The Long Road Home
by Rose's.wings
Summary: The war for Cybertron continues and things have gone from bad to worse to weird in no time flat. Not only are the Decepticons abruptly stronger but something's wrong with the planet itself! And then there's that strange man that saw Aria in the bath...
1. Chapter 1: Stranger Things Have Happened

I'm baaaack!

*Ahem* please pardon the somewhat creepy opening there. I'm just so glad to see you all again! I missed you guys! Has it only been a month? Wow, it feels a _lot_ longer. So much has happened, but here's the promised sequel story to _I Lost A World! _Just like I said! (^,,^ *Little does anyone know that she finished the eighth chapter yesterday...* thinks Mrs. Mittens)

But you probably already know that this is a sequel. If you didn't, well, you should go read the first one! It's my only finished story up there that isn't a one shot. n_n; And for the people that actually have a clue about what's going on (and to be honest I'm not sure if I'm one of them...) I posted like, two or three oneshots over the break. If you didn't read them you should. The're totally cute.

Alright, enough self promotion. Please remember to leave some reviews for me! Suggestions, comments, undying love...all are welcome! (^-.-^ *Oh boy...* thinks the cat) Now here goes my second attempt at a multi-chapter story. Let's hope I can make it to the finish line again...because it's going to be a long road home. Ha! Get it? Because the title's-

.^-.-^.

*Beware the glare of Mrs. Mittens* Okay, I'll shut up now...hope you like it!

...

The Long Road Home

Away from Home are some and I -  
>An Emigrant to be<br>In a Metropolis of Homes  
>Is easy, possibly -<p>

The Habit of a Foreign Sky  
>We - difficult - acquire<br>As Children, who remain in Face  
>The more their Feet retire.<p>

– Emily Dickenson

1 – Stranger Things Have Happened…But Not Really – 1

Aria Rhapsody Johnson did not lead what one would call a normal life, exactly. Sure, she had a home, friends, and family like any other young woman, however…

Her home sat on top of a cabinet in a room bigger then ten New York city blocks were wide, in a city that could have easily fit the entire populous of Earth ten times over.

Her friends were all five times her height, at _least_, and were made of metals and ores rather then carbon and proteins.

And her family? Well, they were aliens.

Although, technically since she was living on _their_ planet, she was the alien, but no one had ever really bothered to point that out to her.

She had been with them for years too numerous to count (not that she could since her definition of time never really did match up to theirs) and aside from the war – this never ending civil war that had razed the surface of Cybertron and ended enough lives that Aria couldn't help but think that most of the Cybertronians were gone too now – life was surprisingly good. Not in the conventional sense of course, but still; good.

However, despite the overall goodness of her life in general, that didn't change the fact that today was fast becoming an unbelievably bad day.

"Where the Pit is it _coming __**from**_?"

Aria's frustrated cry rang out through the early morning air, echoing down corridors and hallways filled with weary soldiers and recharging mechs, startling most out of what passed for sleep in hard times like these. There was a collective groan from the whole lot of them as they realized what was going on.

"Not again."

"Primus make her mute, at least for two more cycles."

"Sparkfinder…"

"Would you shut the frag up?"

The last shout came from an already irritated, gold painted mech as he shoved his head out the door, scowling like usual, just in time to see the small organic being widely known as Sparkfinder run past him.

The human woman skidded to a stop, something close to madness in her blue eyes. "Can you hear it Sunny? Where the Pit is it coming from?" She shouted again, nearly turning in circles as if she would suddenly spot the source of whatever it was that she heard.

"Hear what?" the gold mech snapped, "and stop calling me Sunny. It's Sunstreaker."

Sparkfinder nodded distractedly. "Sure it is. And that Primus forsaken _noise_, what else did you think I meant?"

Sunstreaker turned to share a look with his room mate, his twin brother Sideswipe, as the silver mech finished dragging himself to the door to see what the fuss was all about at this unholy hour.

They didn't hear anything.

"So she's finally gone and lost it…" Sideswipe muttered as he struggled to wake up. "I guess this means we know that a hundred and forty-two vorns is about how long an organic's sanity will last."

Sunstreaker was far too exhausted to feel sorry for Aria. "What noise you thickheaded little thing?"

"Shhh!" Sparkfinder hissed. She was silent another moment. The twins shared another look.

"How mad do you think that sister of hers will be if we return her broken?" Sunstreaker quietly asked his brother.

Sideswipe gave a short laugh. "Forget Sera, what about Prime? Or Ratchet?"

Both mechs' optics grew wide.

Before they could shudder at the mental image of an extremely furious Ratchet and his entire hospital wing being flung at them, Sparkfinder's hands shot to her ears and she gave an aggravated groan before stomping her foot several times like a mad-femme.

"Why won't it _stop_?" She whined pathetically. "It sounds like someone yodeling as they puree a turtle shell mixed with rusted bolts! Who the frag thinks up things like this?"

"What's yodeling?" Sideswipe leaned over and whispered at his brother.

"Beats me, maybe some kind of torture method?" Sunstreaker guessed. Whatever it was, it didn't sound very pleasant. Especially mixed with shells, although what kind a weapon a turtle was escaped them as well.

"So what do we do with her?" Sunstreaker asked in frustration. He should have known something like this would happen. He wasn't on duty for the next half orbit. So of course _something_ had to disrupt his recharge.

"What is going on here?"

All three looked up at the sharp voice to see Hound coming purposefully down the hall. He didn't look happy exactly, although with all the confusion on his face the twins wouldn't call him completely angry either. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe weren't surprised since Hound was one of the eight bots that had given a piece of their spark to the young human all those vorns ago, closer to when she had first arrived. It had saved her life, filling in for the ragged remains of her organic pump after Megatron had blasted the other half into oblivion, but it also meant that those eight mechs and femmes could feel the human woman's emotions, just like she could read theirs. Sideswipe thought it sounded like a double edged sword. Sunstreaker thought it just sounded insane.

"We let him handle it." Sideswipe answered his brother, jerking a thumb at Hound.

Hound frowned as he approached the trio. "Aria, what are you doing shouting so loud? Do you have any idea how early it is?" He asked somewhere between irritation and good natured concern. Aria was supposed to be one of the _good_ beings in Iacon.

_"But then again she's never caused trouble for no reason either," _Hound thought as he took in Aria's wild gaze as she looked around the deserted hallway, trying to find something. He could feel her at the other end of their connection, its force enhanced by their close proximity. She was confused and a little scared, but mainly she was just ticked.

"Aria what are you doing?" Hound demanded again, exasperated.

"She's lost it." Sideswipe told him.

"Cracked in the processor." Sunny added.

"Absolutely bonkers."

"Nuts."

"Would you two mute it already?" Hound snapped. "It's far too early to be dealing with you two anyway." But then he slanted a suspicious look at the twins. "You wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you?" He asked carefully, narrowing his optics at the two of them as he pointed down at Aria.

"Who?" Sideswipe asked, suddenly all innocence.

"Us?" Sunstreaker added.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sideswipe, the lead trickster, added, "even we're not _that_ mean." He said with a significant look at Aria.

"She cracked all on her own." Sunstreaker said, sounding almost pleased at the thought.

"You guys know I can hear you, right?"

The three mechs looked down to see a very irritated Sparkfinder looking up at them.

"Of course you can," Sunstreaker said in an over soothing tone.

"Just keep telling yourself that organic femme." Sideswipe added.

Aria crossed her arms over her chest and glared at them.

"Would you two get out of here?" Hound waved them away angrily.

"No." Sunstreaker said, perfectly serious.

"This is _our_ front door after all." Sideswipe added.

Hound glared at them before deciding to ignore them altogether as he knelt down to be closer to the human causing all the noise. "Now Aria, what's going on here?" He asked.

Aria ran a somewhat nervous hand through her hair. "It's that same _noise_ from before." She told him, embarrassed. She knew she wasn't delusional, really she wasn't. The atrocious din was _there_. The problem was that no one else could hear it.

Hound saw Aria's fervent blue eyes and vented a sigh. "I believe you Aria."

"We don't." Sideswipe piped up.

Aria threw her shoe at the two mechs before Hound could lay his hands on something bigger. With a burst of sneaky laughter, the twins disappeared behind the door.

Aria frowned at the closed door before limping over to retrieve her shoe.

"Brats." She grumbled.

Hound chuckled at her. "Come on Aria, I'll walk you back to your house _if_," he stressed, pointing a stern finger at her, "you promise to go talk to Ratchet about this later. You've been hearing this thing for what? An orn now? You should have him check out your auditory systems."

"Because we're so sure it's her ears that are the problem!" Sunstreaker shouted through the door.

THWAK!

Aria's shoe bounced against the still closed door with a muffled, metallic sound. "Ooo," she muttered in frustration, "just wait until I get my hands on you two. You are both dead!" She yelled through the door.

Hound chuckled and shook his head at her. "Don't worry," he told her, "with what I've got in mind, they'll wish you had gotten to them first." He told her as they started walking down the hallway, Aria's projectile shoes in hand.

"I'll hold you to that." Aria said.

And so began just another day in Iacon.

...

It was late in the day before Aria dared to venture out of her house again a few orbits after her run in with Hound and the twins. The overhead lights hurt her eyes and her head was pounding from lack of sleep, but she was supposed to meet Optimus and some of the others in the reading room he used for meetings, so there wasn't anything she could do but grimace and bear it.

And complain. She could always complain, if only to herself.

"If I knew that this, this," the little human grumbled, trying to think of a good enough word, "alien _rap_ was going to be part of the bargain I would have just gone back to Earth!"

She wouldn't have of course, but that didn't make this noise any easier to bear.

She didn't know where it had come from – and no one else did either which was either strange or an outright lie on someone's part – or why it had just suddenly appeared a few orbits ago, but it had and it was here and it was driving her absolutely _crazy_.

"How is it that no one, _no one_, else can hear this fraggin' turtle-screaming-in-a-blender racket?" She just about screamed in the empty hallway.

That's what she had called it when she had tried to talk to her friend Ratchet about it since he was the top medical officer of the Autobots, whom she lived with. Like she had promised Hound, she had gone to ask him to check her entire auditory systems to see if maybe she was only hearing things. He had only stared at her and asked what a blender was.

And now, a few orbits later, Aria was about ready to scream.

"I'm losing it," she said to herself as she stalked down the hallway towards the Hall of Records that served as the Autobot headquarters, "absolutely losing it!"

"Losing what?" A new voice, one that was thankfully not in her head, asked next to her.

Aria gave a small start as she looked up to see her _di di_ walking next to her. He was her younger brother, so to speak, despite the fact that he was a completely different species, more the three times her size, and blindingly yellow.

Aria sighed and hung her head slightly as they continued down the hall. "Nothing Bumblebee. I'm just talking to myself."

"Again?" Bumblebee asked, slanting a grin at her.

Aria glowered at him lightly, not really in the mood to have her constant grumbling pointed out to her yet again. Although Bumblebee was much nicer about it than, say, Ratchet had been. Of course it _had_ been Ratchet after all, and he was one of the bots physically connected to Aria, as well as all of her moods and emotional twists and turns, so…

"Aria?" Bumblebee asked in concern when Aria didn't rise to the bait, "you feeling alright?"

Aria blinked over at him, still frowning slightly but not at her _di di_. "Huh? Yeah, sure I guess…" she trailed off.

"Still hearing that strange music?" He asked, sounding sympathetic.

Aria heaved a sigh. "Yes, and it's not music," she correctly him somewhat snappishly, "Music at least has a rhythm, and tone, and a recognizable _beat_," she grumbled.

Bumblebee just nodded, listening. "Did you get a chance to talk with Ratchet about it yet?"

Aria sighed again, more explosively. "Yes," she grumped, looking more upset now than angry, "he said that everything's fine, or at least if something is wrong, it isn't with my ears." She said, her dark tone implying that it could still be something else.

Bumblebee waited.

Soon he was rewarded with Aria sighing one last time before spinning to face him.

"Am I going crazy?" She asked suddenly.

Bumblebee stopped next to her and considered carefully before answering, even though he already knew the answer. He looked down at her and saw with some surprise that his sister's face was drawn in worry. Inwardly, he couldn't help but think that she looked so much smaller then when he had been younger. He knew that it wasn't her fault exactly since she had been the same height ever since he had been born, but it was still odd to realize. By his kind's description, he was still relatively young, but since he had reached his final frame he was by all accounts an adult. But Aria, Aria was still the size of an immature sparkling; tiny, although not necessarily defenseless.

Bumblebee gave himself a little shake to get his mind back to the question at hand.

"Ha!" He laughed at her, genuinely amused, "No crazier then you were last stellar cycle. Although personally, I think you're sanity's been questionable for awhile now, so maybe I'm not the best mech to ask." He said with a dismissive shrug that fooled no one.

Aria didn't laugh, but he could see the relieved smile trying to hide in the corner of her mouth. It finally escaped as she gave a breath of laughter. "Shut up," she told him, but she was smiling as she said it.

They started walking again, making their way through the complex hall system to the former office that the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, usually used for meetings.

"So what's this about anyway?" Aria spoke again after a handful of silent cycles.

Bumblebee shrugged as if it should be obvious. "Optimus called a meeting."

Aria rolled her eyes at him, showing that some of her irritation was still there, shallowly buried beneath the surface. "Well I know _that_," she said, "but why am _I_ going? Generally I'm not invited to these sorts of things. It's not like I'm in charge of anything like the rest of you." She said, meaning Bumblebee and the other bots she usually spent time with, who pretty much made up the chain of command.

"I don't know," Bumblebee admitted. "Maybe Optimus has something he needs you to do." He ventured a guess.

Aria straightened up slightly at the thought. She had been feeling so useless lately. It wasn't like she was an obvious help to her friends. She was small, which could be useful when someone was stuck or buried somewhere and needed finding, but generally she was too small to help in the straight up fights. She was clever (or so she had been told) but she wasn't a scientist or engineer or even a mathematician, so their methods went way beyond her limited understanding of science and physics. There just wasn't much that she could do anymore.

For the longest time she had been looking after the younglings – Bumblebee, Arcee, Valiturum (although they all called him Val), Fastlane, Cloudraker, and the younger twins, Skids and Mudflap – but they weren't so little anymore. Somehow, when she hadn't been looking, they had all grown up, but that had only been after the seven of them had been split up to keep them safe from the near psychotic Megatron; leader of the Decepticons who were currently trying to take over the world so Megatron could rule through his personal mantra of 'Peace through Tyranny'.

_"Because that's just _sure_ to work."_ Aria thought scathingly. But still, if Bumblebee was right then it would be nice to have something productive to do.

Aria and Bumblebee arrived at the reading room that had become Optimus Prime's private meeting room. It was a small room compared to most of the others Aria had been in and a large table took up most of the central space. Right now the table was covered with maps and reports, although Aria noticed when Bumblebee carefully placed her on a shelf so she could see everything, that the map of Iacon – the Autobots' home city – was front and center on the table. She also noticed that everyone else was already here.

The door closed behind Bumblebee, catching Optimus' attention from where he stood down at the opposite end of the table with Jazz, Ironhide, and Prowl, fists propped against the table on either side of the Iacon map he and the other three were going over. They were looking over the perimeter of the city as it now stood after Megatron's latest attack.

"How's the attack front going Prowl?" Prime asked solemnly as he stared down at the map of Iacon.

"Well, there's good news and bed news." Prowl said in his usual stoic way. "The good news is that the Decepticons have ceased their attack on the city for the moment. They've drawn back to the outer reaches of the Badlands around Sonic Canyon, though I doubt it'll last long."

"The bad news," Ironhide picked up the report, "is that it's left us with some rough spots." Ironhide said in his low, rough voice as he pointed at several spots on the map where either all important ground-to-air armaments or protective shield generators had been heavily damaged or destroyed altogether.

"Wonderful. Can't Ratchet or Wheeljack just fix them up?" Jazz asked from where he stood, arms crossed over his chest like they usually were, one hip leaning against the table.

"Ratchet has his hands full in the med bay," Optimus answered, not looking up from the map, "but Wheeljack might be able to manage something. Wheeljack!" He called, looking over at the white and green mech where he stood at the side of the table a little farther down.

The inventor looked up from where he had been talking with Hound about potential modifications to the latter bot's trusty rocket launcher. "Yes?" He asked, temporarily distracted, much to Hound's relief.

Optimus motioned Wheeljack forward.

"You know what I don't get?" Ironhide said as the inventor walked over to them. "Why'd the Decepticons draw back? They finally had the shield down in that last barrage. Why back off when they were this close to swarming the city?" Ironhide asked, waving a hand at the map.

Prowl gave an ironic huff. "Their Energon supplies ran short."

Jazz gave a humorless laugh. "They can join the club. I mean, they control most of the planet and they _still_ can't find enough Energon to keep themselves going? That can't be a good sign."

From her place on the shelf, Aria nodded slightly, her eyes unfocusing as she stared off into space. He was right. Supplies were tight. Energon, the thing that kept Cybertronians up and running, usually wasn't a depleting source, but with the planet wide extent of the war and the toll it was taking on Cybertron, the planet just couldn't keep up with the demand being put on it.

Before she could go any farther with this morbid train of thought, Wheeljack stepped up to the table to get a closer look at the map Optimus was pointing at. "Tell me what you can do with these to get them running again." Prime said.

Wheeljack inspected the recently modified map with its scratch outs of things that had been demolished and the rough, handwritten scrawl Hound had provided after witnessing most of the destruction first hand a few orns back. Then he found the specs for the devices in question buried beneath the paper landslide to see what he was dealing with exactly.

"Hmm," he mumbled thoughtfully as he made calculations in his head. "It won't give out the same kind of power as before, but we could always plug the power core from that cargo ship we salvaged for parts into the damaged shield generator. That should get it running again at least."

But Optimus shook his head. "We can't afford to have those generators weaker then they were before. The Decepticons have been pressing the city's edges and, much as I hate to admit it, Starscream and his Seekers are too smart not to press that kind of advantage.

"Well then I'll need a new power source of _some_ kind." Wheeljack told him. "Everything else I can manage – that artilleries should be a piece of oil cake – but I can only get so far without a new power core for the generator."

Optimus nodded, his gaze far away as he tried to remember where a suitable battery could be found and soon. They needed those shields.

"What about Crystal City?" Bumblebee spoke up from where he was now standing next to Ironhide. "There're still lots of parts there from the science labs that can be salvaged. Maybe we could find something suitable there." He pointed out.

Ironhide snorted. "Yeah, but that's not the only thing you'll find. Shockwave dumps his failed experiments there too, remember? And most of them aren't what you'd call _nice_." He told the younger mech.

"Vicious is more like it." Jazz added.

"True." Optimus rumbled. "But if nothing else can be used we may not have much of a choice. Keep looking closer to home Wheeljack, but if you can't find anything in the next orbit then I want you, Ironhide, and Bumblebee to go search the edges of Crystal City. Avoid the inner ruins though; stick to the fringe. No sense asking for more trouble then we already have."

Wheeljack nodded once. "Right."

"Do I go with them Prime?" Hound spoke up now, eager for a chance to get out of the city at least for a joor or two. He was starting to feel trapped by his own defensive lines; not that you would catch him admitting to it.

"No. You and Sideswipe see to the starting repairs instead. No sense letting Wheeljack have all the fun of the challenge." He said with what might have been the ghost of a grin.

Hound buried his slight disappointment. At least a puzzle would be some kind of break from sentry rounds around the city or along the power conduit that fed Iacon its energy supply. Although he thought Sideswipe would get more enjoyment out of this then he would. It seemed the silver twin was almost as interested in putting things back together as he was in blasting them apart. Hound thought there might have been some irony in there somewhere, but his mind was too full of possible defensive and offensive strategies to try and ferret it out.

"Jazz, you and Mirage try and see if you can't learn what the Decepticons are planning next, or at least when they might move in again." Optimus turned to the other mech.

"Got it," Jazz said, for once sticking to the point and avoiding his usual bad jokes.

The Autobot leader took another look around the room at his followers. He nodded once. "Good, then let's get-"

"Wait, wait!" Aria shouted from the shelf where she had been quite forgotten since 'Bee had put her there. "What am I supposed to do? Why did you ask me to come here?" She asked, looking over at Optimus. Even Aria could hear the slight desperation in her voice. She almost rolled her eyes at herself; since when were things this bad that she felt so totally useless? And how had she not noticed it before?

She chalked it up to good, old-fashioned denial and quickly turned her attention back to Optimus.

He was slowly shaking his head, looking slightly confused. "I didn't ask for you." He told her, glancing around the room to see if anyone else had.

Wheeljack stepped up before Optimus had even gotten to his side of the room. "Oh, that was me. There must have been a misunderstanding somewhere. You see I told Prowl to send you a message and he said he'd tell Val since you were seeing him later, although now that I think about it he was called away a megacycle ago wasn't he? He must have told somebody else because obviously _someone_ told you-"

"Wheeljack!" Aria interrupted, knowing this could go on for some time before Wheeljack got down to what he had actually wanted to ask her. "It's alright. Just what did you want?" She said, trying to remain hopeful that it was something good even as a sinking feeling began to grow in her stomach.

"Oh, right," Wheeljack said, leaning over to be closer to eye level with Aria, "I was just wondering if you had seen my laser drill. The last I remember seeing it was when you were telling me that one of your water pipes had busted, but I can't seem to find it anywhere."

Aria blinked over at Wheeljack in shock. That was all he wanted?

The inventor mistook her staring for confusion.

"You know that little round spinney thing-"

"I know what it is!" Aria suddenly shouted. And then in frustration she stamped one foot, much to the confusion of all the mechs present. They had never seen her do that before.

_"All that hope that I was finally going to be useful again – poof!"_ Aria thought, angry and disappointed all at once. And then, just to make matters worse, that fraggin' _noise_ started up again, scraping against her ears like a cheese grater.

Aria's hands flew to her head in a futile attempt to block out the sound, but it didn't work. So without any coherent kind of words, Aria turned sharply on the ball of her foot and stalked towards the door, Bumblebee practically jumping over the table to keep her from just walking over the edge of the shelf when she forgot how high up she was. His frantic rushing did nothing to make her feel better. Now she felt guilty on top of disappointed and frustrated. Wee.

"Where are you going?" Optimus asked after her.

"To take a bath!" She yelled, flinging one arm up in the air in frustration before grumbling under her breath, "because apparently I've got nothing better to do."

"Wheeljack actually fixed your pipes?" Jazz asked in surprise.

"Hey!" Wheeljack shouted indignantly at the disbelief in Jazz's voice.

Aria's answering growl told him that he hadn't. "Then I'm going to the reservoir," she said irritably, referring to the large lake of water leftover from cleansing process that had once happened all throughout the city.

Optimus frowned at her. "Alone?" He asked pointedly. The lake was still within Iacon's relative safety, but it wasn't right in the center of things where the shield and defenses were strongest either. And while a lull had appeared in the latest Decepticon attack, Optimus didn't think it was wise of his little friend to just go strolling along the outskirts of town either.

"Yes, alone," Aria shot back, "I'm sure not taking one of you with me."

"Well with Decepticons testing the edges of the city I dare say you can't go out by yourself either." He snapped slightly, propping a hand on his hip as he stared down at her.

"I'll go," Bumblebee spoke up, eager to cut off another argument. He wasn't sure what was up with his sort-of sister, but whether it was this music no one else could hear, or something else inherent to organics that he didn't know about, Aria had been more then on edge recently. It didn't take much to set her off, much to everyone else's annoyance. "It'll take Wheeljack a little while to see if there's a replacement around. I've got some time."

Aria glowered over at him, but didn't argue. Bumblebee didn't let her glare stop him from following when she walked out the door. It wasn't him she was mad at after all.

"Besides," he added solely to her as he followed Aria out of the Hall of Records, "who'd want to look at you anyway?" He asked, teasing her.

Aria gave an 'hmph' that made Bumblebee think she had been spending too much time with Ratchet. "Shut up," she grouched, not nearly as positive as she had been earlier.

Bumblebee just grinned at her. Finally, she was starting to cheer up.

...

The man had waited till day was well established before leaving the cave. There had been too many roving nighttime _things_ not to. But now as he left his quickly found shelter he saw that the landscape before him was vast, broken, and empty. Large slabs of natural metallic rock stood at leaning angles that made him nervous enough not to walk beneath them. But the longer he looked at the wasteland, the more he saw that none of this was just randomly eroded stone, torn apart by natural elements, but instead were pieces of what had once been a city.

"What in the name of God could have caused all this?" He wondered quietly to himself.

His only companion gave a soft whicker behind him before nudging his shoulder with her soft nose.

Tearing his eyes away from the ruinous landscape, the man turned and stared at the horse-like creature behind him. Her pitch black coloring made her difficult to see in the dimness of the cave, but if he squinted the man could just barely tell her skeletal outline from the pitted cave walls behind her. The unearthly creature blinked her large, round eyes back at him, a ray of sun light catching gold and amber within their dark depths.

"I know Peg," the man said to her, patting a hand on her broad neck, feeling the down-like hair that covered roughly half of her leathery body, "it's hard to imagine this was a city. Do you think we've ended up at the Morgoana Ruins?" He asked as he picked up her saddle where he had put it the night before and lifted it onto her strong back.

The creature known as Peg shook her head, ruffling her short cut mane, and told her human that this looked nothing like the infamous ruins that lay north of his capital city. Those ancient, crumbling stones were smooth and worn from the passage of time and the grass grew thick there. These stones were freshly shattered, lying here no more then what he and his kind called a fortnight, or so she estimated. Peg had never really been bothered by naming the passing of time. She also told him that those ruins had sweet grass growing everywhere that was very tasty.

Her man just shook his head as he tested the straps that kept the saddle from sliding over. "Take this seriously. We've somehow gotten separated from the herd and I want to know why, and where. Would you quit thinking with your stomach for once Peg?" He told her as he adjusted the thick, leather straps that circled his mount's shoulder blades, allowing easy enough access for when she shifted into her aerial form.

She told him it was very hard not to, seeing as she had three stomachs.

The man rolled his eyes. "Two and a half. That last one shouldn't even count."

She told him it held food before digestion, so it counted.

"Well anyway," her rider said as he removed the cargo from his saddle bags before slinging their remaining supplies over her haunches, "let's see if we can't find something recognizable. That light that struck us was about a mile from here I'd say, so if the rest of the herd is still around then they've got to be close."

Peg whickered again, more sadly then before, and hung her head down near her knobby knees. Softly she told him that she highly doubted they were close at all; she hadn't been able to feel any of the herd since last night when they had been attacked.

The man frowned at this, but then patted Peg's neck, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry Peg. Between the commander and his stallion, the rest of them will be alright. No matter how many Karkadanns appear out of the Sea of Sand."

Peg nudged him, letting him know that his reassurance was appreciated, but that she was still unsure about all this. Something just felt off about the air, she told him, however she could not describe how.

Her rider frowned at that too, but quickly shook it off. "Let's just go see what's out there alright? Are you good to fly?" He asked in genuine concern.

Peg huffed and told him her wings felt like they had been pulled by two rhinoceroses running in different directions after last night's sudden storm.

"Alright, then we'll walk. You jump up onto one of those rocks out there and I'll check out the lower reaches. Shout if you see anything, but don't go far," he warned her, pointing a stern finger at her, "I'm going to leave the cargo here for safe keeping, just in case there are more Karkadanns out there waiting to jump us. If we get separated, we'll meet back here by nightfall."

Peg gave him a decisive nod to show she understood.

"That's my girl." He told her with a fond pat on her neck. Then they turned and left their shelter. Peg immediately gave a strong leap onto a rock before jumping up onto one of the large pieces of ruin, her hard hooves striking sparks off of the rock's metallic surface.

Her man didn't look up as she jumped from boulder to boulder to survey the area surrounding them, but kept his mind on his own work instead. But as he carefully walked through the blasted chunks of building, a part of him couldn't help but go over what he remembered one more time. It just didn't make any sense. First, they had been there with the herd. Rifkin and his mount Lady Grey had been on their right with another two pair on the other side of the cargo the herd of Equines and their riders had been in the process of delivering to the capitol – the same cargo that had somehow ended up with him during the fight before he and Peg had been whisked away to…wherever this was. They had been two hours out from their station when they had been attacked by the dust devils and their Karkadanns, come to steal the cargo. And then…

…then what?

A voice distracted him from his thoughts as they circled unproductively in his head. At first he thought it was Peg, but then he realized that the voice was unfamiliar to him and it was coming from up ahead, rather then above and behind him. He crept forward, following the voice, but all the while wary of another trap. The dust devils had always been nefarious and tricky.

The voice led him to a small cliff and the man ducked behind one of the rocks lining the edge. The voice was strongest here and he could clearly make out the words now. Whoever it was was singing, and with a lovely voice as well, but he still waited a moment before peeking out from behind the rock to make sure he hadn't been seen. His eyes went wide when he realized it wasn't a dust devil below him – the longest and bitterest enemy of his race – but a woman.

A bathing woman.

His face suddenly felt like it was on fire. She was standing in a small lake below him, singing. The cliff he was on formed a protective shelter around the water from the wind, but she was only waist deep in the water, her back to him. Obviously she thought she was alone from her lack of cover.

Peg must have felt his sudden surprise because her soft voice suddenly whispered in his mind, _"What is it?"_

"I think I've found a selkie maid…" he distantly murmured aloud.

He could practically hear Peg's impatient snort. _"What?"_ She demanded.

Her human nodded, unable to reply.

Distantly, he knew he should look away, but that part of his mind that wasn't staring at what he thought _must_ be a dream wasn't strong enough in the end to make him turn away, although it did have enough strength left to heavily berate him.

_"Stupid! Vulgar! This is below you! What would Miriam or Mother say? Real or not turn around before she-"_

Halfway through the high note of her lovely song, the woman turned her head over her shoulder, her figure still facing the other way. Instantly her eyes locked with his. He noticed they were colored a deep blue, like the sight of the sea on a deceptively calm day.

_"-sees you."_

For a brief moment he thought she would dissipate, dissolving back to rejoin her fellow seals beneath the sea because she was just too beautiful to be real.

And then the woman's eyes went wide as she realized what she was seeing. And what _he_ was seeing.

She gave a startled scream as she threw her arms across her front and dove beneath the water with a splash that no selkie ever would have made.

The man tipped over onto his backside, caught off guard by her sudden shriek. Selkies didn't scream like that did they? It was fast occurring to him that that _might _have been a real woman down there-

And then he was too busy staring down the length of a powerful, blazing blue cannon to pay much attention to the Selkie girl.


	2. Chapter 2: So Totally Not What I Meant

I have never loved a Monday like yesterday before. 'Why?' You man ask. Well, I got the most amazing, exciting news of forever and all time.

I get to go on my school's study abroad in GERMANY!

_GERMANY!_

I've just always wanted to go, that and we stay there for like a _month_ and at the end all the students get their art work put up in a show! A real art show! And in Europe! I'm so excited I can't even make a smiley face that shows how much!

XD Oh, but I'm so excited! Eep! But that's not til the end of May, so for more present excitement, here is the next chapter of _The Long Road Home . _It's not as long, and it maaay raise more questions than answer them...but you'll love it! Especially next week when things make more sense...*looks around sheepishly*

A quick but heart felt thanks to all those that faved and alerted my story. And special thanks go to poiseninja, Mercades Wolfcry, Vivian Hale, Topkicker 26, annebellelennox, cascadenight, MaGiCal MoOn (I'm afraid I can't pm you, so insert my amazing thanks here, and I'm really glad you liked my oneshots too!), Plagueblood (I can't pm you either, but THANK YOU! n_n I like it when I get to be someone's favorite. And I really want to write a short story about Ratchet and turtles now...*maniacal laughter*), DeathByLackOfMusic, Birgitte LP (You are so awesome!), and Alalaya2 for reviewing! You guys rock!

...

The Long Road Home

2 – So Totally Not What I Meant – 2

"FINALLY!"

Aria's ecstatic shout rang through the Hall of Records, making mechs well on the other side of the building look up from what they were doing. The one standing next to her however, just turned the volume back up on his auditory systems.

"Somehow I thought you'd be happy about this." Wheeljack said once he could hear again. Living so long with Aria had taught him that when organics got excited, they also tended to get louder.

"What is it?" Aria nearly yelled up at the inventor, although she hardly noticed. Finally, she was going to get to do _something_, even if she didn't know what it was yet. "What does he want me to do?"

Wheeljack shrugged. "Prime didn't tell me, but he wants you to meet him down in the second sub-level-"

He had hardly gotten the words out before Aria shot off down the hall shouting, "Thanks 'Jack!" over her shoulder.

Nearby, Cliffjumper shouted after the girl, "Do you even know where the sub-levels are?"

But Aria just turned around, still running, and waved at the two mechs.

Wheeljack waved after her slightly, but by then she was already gone.

Cliffjumper just crossed his arms and shook his head at the little human. Then he looked over at Wheeljack. "Organics, huh?"

Wheeljack only nodded before heading back to scour his lab for anything that might be made over into a power conduit for the damaged shield generator.

Aria found Optimus right where Wheeljack said he'd be. Prowl and Ironhide were with him and they were talking quietly to themselves as she joined them.

"Well I still don't like it," Ironhide was growling slightly as she got closer.

But Aria didn't bother listening. "Hey guys," she said cheerily as she stopped near their feet, "what's up?"

Optimus and Prowl shared a look that on any other orbit Aria would have deciphered as 'well here goes nuthin'. Ironhide just shifted his weight to one foot and glared at the other two as if to say, "Well go on. This was _your _idea."

"We," Prowl said with uncharacteristic slowness, "want you to question somebody."

That gave Aria pause for a second. "Really?" She asked, caught off guard. "Me? Are you sure this isn't just another misunderstanding?" She asked, hope falling slightly at the thought. She was almost as tired of misunderstandings as she was of feeling useless.

There it was again; that look she should have recognized. "No," Prowl said, "you're the best one for this job Aria. Of that we're certain. However I will be telling you what to say," he said as he handed her a headset Wheeljack had mini-sized just for her.

Aria took it and settled it around her head. "Alright," she said, not really questioning her friends' strange behavior, "just point me in the right direction then."

Prowl spun her around to face the door they were standing in front of. And then, curiously enough, he and Optimus both got out of the door's line of sight.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Ironhide rumbled. Prowl just frowned at him and yanked the black armored mech away from the door.

Aria nodded once, determination rising as she ignored them. _"I wonder why they want me to talk to this mech?" _She asked herself as she keyed open the door. _"Well, I guess there's just a first time for everyth-"_

She froze as the door slid open.

On the other side of the room, hands clasped behind his back as he turned from staring thoughtfully at the back wall, was that _man_.

Aria stared at him in horror, her mind threatening to glitch on the spot.

The man's face turned red the instant he realized who she was, but that didn't stop him from clearing his throat and saying a polite, "Good morning Lady Sparkfinder."

Aria managed a strangled gurgle that somehow expressed both her mortification and her fury all at once, before she slapped the controls to the door, making it zoom shut.

From inside the supposedly sound proof room, the man heard a very loud, if not very muffled, _"What in the Pit Optimus?"_

On the other side of the door, Aria was trying very hard not to throw anything. She felt the heat from the spark melded to the remains of her original heart burn hot in response to her sudden emotion. Emotions that didn't belong to her greeted her almost instantly, as if someone had tied strings around her heart and was pulling at them from the other end, making the unseen moorings around her spark-heart vibrate just under her skin. She resisted the urge to itch.

Ratchet's was first, his startled question appearing as abruptly as he did in real life, asking silently if she had been hurt. 'Bee was close behind the gruff old medic, although his thought was a little more worried then questioning, offering his sister comfort as he wondered what was wrong. Farther off was Hound, his 'voice' weaker because of the physical distance between them, but still understandable. Even Wheeljack must have felt her sudden rise in blood pressure because he managed to pull some of his attention away from his frantic searching and asked her if she was alright too.

Ironhide's emotion felt the strongest because he was standing right across from her on the other side of the hallway. He just felt fragged off, but that was directed more at Prowl and Optimus for not giving her fair warning. Of course if they _had_ told her that the man had been let out of Ratchet's care and was standing not ten feet away, she would have refused, point blank, no way no how, to even be on the same floor as him. But come to think of ti, that was probably why they hadn't told her anything.

Aria felt even more embarrassed now (if that was even possible) then comforted by the mechs' silent questions. She didn't really like broadcasting her mood swings to everyone, especially not the eight mechs and femmes that had tied their lives to hers. They had done it to save her, because they loved her, but now she was more afraid that it would just prove to be a distraction. That her presence would only get them killed.

_"At least Bluestreak and the girls aren't close enough to feel me."_ She told herself, but it was little comfort because it worked both ways. They couldn't feel much from her and she could hardly feel anything of them on the other end of the strings that held them together.

With a curt reply that she was fine, Aria shoved them all away. Then she looked up and glared at the two guilty parties standing in front of her. To say that Aria was steamed as she started pacing in front of them would have been like saying the heart of a star was only a little warm.

"I told you this was a bad idea." Ironhide muttered to Prowl. Prowl slanted him a look to mute it.

"What the heck was that?" Aria growled angrily, giving Prowl and Optimus each a glare. "When I said I wanted to help you guys out this is not what I meant!" Aria stopped her pacing long enough to hiss up at her old friend Optimus Prime and fling an accusing finger at the door next to her.

Optimus resisted the urge to sigh. He had expected this after all, but it just couldn't be helped. "Just go in and talk to him. Find out why he's here and what he wants. If he's working with Megatron or if he just ended up here on accident like you did." He pressed, hoping she wouldn't put up too much of a fight. He didn't have the time to argue with her.

Aria paced another line, her blue eyes flickering toward the door in a mix of fury and something that looked almost like fear.

Optimus could hardly believe that. He had seen Aria face down everything from drones to Decepticons without so much as a flinch. Surely she wasn't afraid of just one man – one of her own species even – that had seen her without the flimsy plating she called clothes.

"Well why can't one of you do it?" She asked turning back to him, nearly whining, "Prowl is going to be telling me what questions to ask anyway. Why doesn't he just ask the guy himself?"

Optimus frowned at Aria's continued resistance. She had always been stubborn, but still, this was bordering on just plain contrary. He knew there was something else going on here, motivating her reluctance, but he didn't bother asking about what it was. There were too many other things demanding his attention as it was. Aria could look after herself anyway.

"We're not sure if he can understand us for one thing," he told her, treating her as he would any other of his bots, "and besides, we're not sure how he will react to our presence. Even you were afraid when you saw me for the first time." He pointed out, remembering that day very well.

Aria rolled her eyes and crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. "Yeah, for like two minutes. And even then I was more afraid of being crushed by that stuff on your shelf then you."

Despite the thousand and one things needing his attention at that instant, Optimus managed a crooked smile at his small friend. "Well you have always been special Ariah." He told her, hoping to embarrass her just a little.

It worked. She blushed and looked down at the floor.

He managed a wry chuckle before she shook herself out of it. "But seeing as you're a good five times bigger then anything he's even imagined and you could easily break him without even trying I suppose I can see your point. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if he started freaking out."

Then she remembered she was still angry and pointed up at him, "But that doesn't mean _I_ have to talk with him! I mean, what else are your holoforms for?" She demanded.

Optimus felt the humor leave him as he looked down at Aria. "Besides the obvious culture customs we are unaware of, you yourself have pointed out that our holoforms wouldn't pass for a real human."

"That leaves you to speak with him." Prowl said, not exactly sounding happy with the idea.

Aria wasn't all that pleased with it either.

But eventually Aria caved anyway. "Alright _fine_," she hissed at him, stomping her foot again, "but if he says anything about what he saw I'm going to slap him." She told them, pointing up at him again.

_"I have no doubt,"_ Optimus thought, but wisely kept the thought to himself. He had never seen Aria blow a circuit before, but he had the feeling that if he pushed her even the tiniest amount he would get to see it first hand. "Completely understandable," he said instead, knowing how she felt about others seeing her bare, even if he didn't understand it.

"I'll do more then hit him if he tries anything on you." Ironhide muttered, flexing his cannons threateningly.

Much to Optimus' relief, Aria grinned wryly at that. "Well I suppose that makes this a little easier."

Then with another unhappy glare at Prowl and a slightly less unhappy one at Optimus, she opened the door again and went inside.

The man looked up when she entered of course, no doubt wondering if she had some kind of mental issue.

He wasn't though. Instead he was wondering if she was going to leave again. After a few minutes of heated silence, he realized she wasn't. Instead, she glared over at him as she cautiously entered the room and stood, arms crossed, in front of him. There was no screaming, shouting, or crying, as he half expected, just her cold, furious, glaring.

Not sure what else to do, he stared back at her, meeting the burning blue eyes of this strange woman the disembodied voice that had held him at gunpoint had called Sparkfinder.

Finally years of manners and good breeding reasserted themselves and he inclined his head to her. "Good day kind lady," he greeted her again.

She looked like she wanted to bite his head off more then ever, but she didn't say anything either for or against his speaking.

So he tried again. "I am Nathanial Hawthorne, partner of Equines Peggy Sue, Rider in the Council's Calvary. I do pray you will forgive my boldness, but may I inquire of your name?"

The lady gave a brief gust of darkly humored laughter when he spoke of his boldness in asking her name and Nathanial felt his face flush. He knew why she was angry with him.

Knowing there was no easy way to go about this, Nathanial resigned himself and smartly bowed, bending at the waist with his hands clasped properly at the small of his back. "I only ask so that I may express my deepest, most earnest apologies to you, Lady Sparkfinder. I don't know what I was thinking. But if I had known you were," he stuttered slightly over the thought, "bathing, I would have of course respected your privacy."

Still the woman was silent. She hadn't moved since walking into the room, and right now Nathanial didn't dare to. So he remained standing, bent over, and stared at the floor, hoping she'd at least say _something _soon so he could straighten up.

"Do you always talk like that?"

Nathanial looked up. The woman still hadn't moved, but she was watching him now with more curiosity in her gaze then outright fury. He was making headway it seemed.

"Like what?" He asked, standing up again.

The woman cocked her head at him, slowly, as if she was sizing him up. Inside his chest, Nathanial felt his heart bang hard against his ribs twice before settling some. There was no question in his mind that she was a beautiful woman, but she was a very different creature from the ladies that had previously formed a standard in his life. None of them would have dared to glare at him so, even if he _had_ accidentally caught them in the bath. No, they would have stared at the ground, hands clasped nervously in front of their long skirts, while their mothers either subtly berated him or tried not to gloat that their plan had gone so well.

"Like you've just come out of a Jane Austen book." She told him straightly, still fixing him with one eye over the other.

He also had no idea what she was talking about.

Nathanial tried to hide his confusion, but had very little success. "I'm sorry," he said, old, dust covered lessons on manners suddenly appearing in the forefront of his mind, "I fear I misheard you. Who is this Miss Austen?" He asked the woman.

Nathanial was watching his questioner closely now, trying to puzzle out her intentions (he was very interested to know if she was the kind of woman that slapped those that insulted her or not), so he caught the slight furrowing of her eyebrows as she tilted her head to face him full on, her curiosity once again overriding her anger.

"Where are you from?" She finally asked him slowly, as if she had needed to wait for someone else to finish telling her the question.

It was somewhat of an odd question since there was only one place he _could _be from, but then Nathanial realized she must have meant his birth city, not his country.

"My family has lived in Tripura for the past seven generations, however my herd grazes," he caught himself slipping into rider-talk and quickly shook himself, "that is to say, is stationed near Koror, close to the Effervescent Woods."

The confusion appeared thicker on the woman's fair face. "Yeah, you're going to have to be more general than that. Think larger scale." She told him as she leaned against the wall behind her.

"I'm…sorry?" Was all Nathanial could think to say. Tripura was the nation's capitol city. How much larger could he get?

"You know, think bigger," the woman told him, "like where are Tripura and Koror and these Evanescence Woods?" She asked.

"It's Effervescent," he corrected automatically, "and I admit that I don't understand the nature of your question. There is only one island."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Humor me then. Pretend I'm your grade school history teacher if it helps. Just where are you from?" She asked again, sounding a bit irritated now.

Nathanial cocked his head at her, but answered her anyway, realizing he was in no position to hold answers back. "Tripura is the capitol of Atala." He told her, giving her a worried look. She must be a very confused young lady not to have heard of these places.

She twitched her fingers at him in a 'come on' gesture. "Well that's a start. Now where's Atala?"

Now Nathanial didn't bother hiding his uncertainty. "On the…Lemuria?" He answered, only now wondering if this was some kind of joke.

But the woman wasn't looking like this was some kind of amusement. She just continued to watch him with those clear cut blue eyes of hers. "What's a Lemuria?" She asked.

"The…floating island?" He tried again.

The woman blinked at him. Then she cocked her head as if she was listening to something.

"Alright, so which planet is that on?" She asked coolly.

Nathanial stared at her. No wonder she was so different; she was mad. Plainly, utterly mad.

"What _planet_?" He asked incredulously. "Alright that is enough! I don't know who you are or what you want but where in the name of God am I?" Nathanial spun in a sharp circle, manners be hanged. He didn't like this. Something was off about this whole thing. And where was Peg? She wasn't hurt, he knew that. But he couldn't feel her at the other end of their tether like he normally could either. It was disturbing. The dust devils had been searching for something to cut Rider from mount ever since their war had begun. If this woman was in league with the dust devils and that was why he couldn't find Peg, then he, along with all of Atala, was in very serious trouble.

The woman had the gall to smile at him, although the action did not reach her eyes. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She told him in a low voice, clearly enjoying his being lost in the dark.

Nathanial gave the woman a glare of his own. He would not let her get the best of him. Beautiful or not she was still his interrogator. He must keep his head. Then he could find Peg, get out of here, and reclaim the cargo before searching for the herd.

He stayed silent as he regained his self control, his eyes never leaving the woman's. "And what about you?" He asked once he trusted himself enough to speak. "Where are you from Miss?"

She raised her eyebrows at him as she took a step around the table. "Oh it's Miss now? What happened to lady, Mr. Hawthorne?" She asked, clearly toying with him.

He thought of saying that there were no longer any ladies left in the room as he matched her step, circling her as she was him however unintentionally, but dismissed the thought as too uncouth. He was still a gentleman, no matter how often he had tried to tell his mother he wasn't, and gentlemen of Tripura did not insult ladies, even ones that worked with demons.

"I was just asking to see if I knew of your city, or even your family. My mother in particular has lots of connections. If there's a family anywhere from Tripura to the Jungles of Sangir that has had their daughter kidnapped by dust devils I'm sure she's heard of her." He said, praying hard that that was all it was; kidnapping, and not volunteer work. She couldn't be working with those demons _willingly_? Could she?

Nathanial was suddenly very glad he had left the cargo back in the cave. It could not be allowed to fall into the dust devils' possession. And with all the rubble and ruin out there he would be very surprised if she _ever_ found it.

But instead or looking relieved, or even furious at the allusion that she had been taken against her will, the woman only looked confused.

"San-greer?" She tried to say. "Dust devils? What the heck are you talking about?" She asked, no hint of guile or deception in her voice.

Nathanial took a step around the table, the lady forgetting to match him this time. He narrowed his eyes at her as he tried to discern any trickery in her innocent confusion, but he couldn't find any.

"You've really never heard of any of these places?" He asked, taking another step as he watched her intently for any tells of lying.

"No," she answered promptly, crossing her arms over her chest again as she frowned at him, "should I have?"

"Well there _is_ only one island." He said again.

She nodded once, slowly, as she eyed him. "You ever hear of a place called Texas?" She asked.

Nathanial shook his head. "No, should I have?" He returned her words to her, giving her a somewhat cheeky smile.

Aria shrugged. "Well it _is_ pretty distinctive. What about New York?" She asked.

Nathanial shook his head.

She blinked at him, as if she had suspected something, but was still shocked to realize she had been right. "America?" She tried. "Europe? Asia?"

But Nathanial just shook his head.

Her eyes narrowed. "What about Megatron?" She asked darkly. "Ever heard of him?"

Personally, Nathanial thought it sounded like she was just making stuff up now. "I can honestly say no, I haven't."

The woman leaned back as she shifted her weight on her back foot. "Huh," she muttered, appraising him again with her eyes.

Nathanial did the same. But he still had trouble believing that a woman only an inch or so shorter then him, with her slender build and slight muscle would be working with the dust devils. They preferred their spies to be…less noticeable then a pretty young woman.

_"But since that was a very shallow analysis…" _Nathanial thought."And what about the dust devils? Or their Karkadanns even? Have you heard of them?" He asked suspiciously.

She shrugged again. "Unless you mean those mini-twisters on the side of the road then I don't know what you're talking about. I've never even heard of a Karkadann." She told him.

"Then I'm not sure what to believe," he admitted, "it seems the obvious answer keeps shifting from damsel in distress to lunatic to the absurd possibility that you are telling the truth."

The woman blinked a bit at him and cocked her head. "Thanks, I think." She mumbled. _"Well at least he didn't end on lunatic."_ Aria thought to herself.

"However I cannot bring myself to trust your words alone Miss Sparkfinder, at least as far as the dust devils are concerned. They are far too cunning for that." Nathanial said taking one calculated step forward. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to prove that you're not in cahoots with them."

She raised that eyebrow at him again. "'Cahoots'?" She asked. "Seriously?"

He ignored her. "Will you comply?" He asked her formally.

She shrugged. "Well, I have no idea who you're talking about so sure, I guess. What do I have to do to prove my innocence?" She asked with a slight smile and a roll of her eyes to show how ridiculous she thought this all was.

Nathanial stepped forward once more, closing the gap between them before carefully taking her hand. She was warm, which was always a good sign when checking for the demons.

"Dust devil is a very literal name," he told her, feeling the need to explain himself as he inspected her somewhat rough hand. "They are made entirely of dust and are not alive so," he trailed off as he picked one of her fingers for testing. Then he drew his field knife, planning to prick her once to see whether blood or dust appeared through the skin.

Two things suddenly happened at once.

The first, and slightly less surprising thing, was that the woman gasped and quickly punched him square on the chin with her other hand.

The second was that the wall behind her was suddenly blown inward, knocking Nathanial backwards, and something huge and black came blazing forward, the familiar blue fires of charged weapons joining him.

From his new spot on the floor, Nathanial had a very good view of the creature that had just burst through the entire wall. It was taller then his mother's townhouse and night black except for its two burning blue eyes and the weapons that were aimed with alarming precision at Nathanial's small body. It was also beyond enraged with him, which didn't seem to bode well for his future health.

It was also startlingly, mind blowingly familiar.

"Dear God," Nathanial breathed with all the respect for God a single man is capable of, "you're a _Cybertronian_."


	3. Chapter 3: The Missing Link

Mwuhahahaha! You have been left stewing in the lost dimension of unanswered questions long enough! You hold now in your hands to key to your enlightenment! And now I must stop talking like someone from Indiana Jones or I shall go insane! Mwuhahaha!

*Cough cough, Ahem* Sorry. I felt dramatic there for a minute. My bad. But seriously, get ready to start putting some pieces together. And see a averagely tall human get the spit scared out of him by an unhappy Ironhide. n_n Hee hee hee, I think I had too much fun writing those parts.

And now I would like to request your help. Help! Over Christmas I got one of those little, cutesy, ideas and drew a little picture of Aria and a young Bumblebee, but I've gotten mixed reviews on it, so to speak, from friends and family, so please, go to my blog and drop me a comment! I'll leave a link to it in my profile. _I_ think he looks cute but that won't make me feel better if everyone else sees a panda like my mom did...*sighs despondently*

*quick note! I stupidly forgot to make anonymous comments available on my blog, but I changed that. _Now_ you should go ccomment on the picture. Or just wait til I get it up on Deviant Art, eventually...*

Anyway thank you! For everything. The reviews, the alerts, the 186 hits this got in a week, and, well, everything. Sorry if I didn't answer your review. That seems to be getting harder and harder for me to do because I always think I have later and then BOOM! It's Tuesday again. But I really appreciate _everything_ you all send me! XOXO Thank you! And I hope you like this next chapter. n_n See you next week!

...

The Long Road Home

3 – The Missing Link – 3

Nathanial couldn't tell if his mind was racing or stopping. Whatever it was doing, his body acted without it as he practically threw himself to the floor, head bowed, before the being he had thought a myth just moments before could notice him staring at it.

The strange woman and the supposed myth hardly twitched when he rammed his face to the floor.

Nathanial stared, eyes wide, at the ground now that they couldn't see his face. He tried to control his breathing. He just couldn't believe it. Could. Not. Believe it. What he was seeing was impossible! They were just stories. Images engraved in the Morgoana Ruins he had first mistaken his earlier surroundings for. Legends like this just didn't suddenly tear down a wall and come to life. They weren't _real_.

The cannon two yards away from his body claimed otherwise. He could feel its heat baking him in his scuffed and dirtied uniform. If he glanced up slightly he could practically see inside to the thing's mechanisms as they spun, emitting a high pitched whine that existed on the very edge of his hearing. As Nathanial watched them, he couldn't help but feel a little impressed. If these gods existed – if he wasn't just _imagining_ things or delusional from dehydration – then these were exactly the sort of exquisitely complicated weapons he would have imagined they possessed.

Aria was less thrilled with the mech's sudden appearance.

"Ironhide, what are you doing?" She asked loudly, planting her hands firmly on her hips.

"He was about to harm you." Ironhide rumbled, optics narrowing further at Nathanial's kneeling form.

"Yeah, and I punched him. I thought everything was going pretty well." She said.

No one was sure if she was trying to be funny or not, but nobody laughed anyway.

Aria gestured to the still smoking hole in the wall. "I appreciate the sentiment Ironhide, but did you _really_ have to knock the wall down? I can handle myself you know. He was already laid out on the floor when you came crashing through." She pointed out. "And now look what you've done," Aria said throwing an arm out to point at Nathanial's hunched over form, "he probably thinks you're some kind of demon coming to dismember him." She said.

Ironhide narrowed his optics at the unmoving human. "It's still a possibility…" he muttered.

Aria just rolled her eyes. "No, it's not." She said, but then gave the man another look as Nathanial dared another quick glance up. From where he was hunched over on the ground, the only living thing he could see was Aria and he quickly looked away given the sour look on her face. "As long as he keeps his eyes to himself anyway." She grumbled, hands propped up on her hips.

Prowl and Optimus finally joined Ironhide through the newly made hole in the wall. Prowl especially took in the fresh destruction with a resigned glance, as if he should have expected as much when he had seen the organic mech take that first step towards Aria.

"I don't know which one of you is worse," Prowl grumbled lightly as he stepped over the rubble of what had just been a neat, well constructed, wall, "you crashing through a solid surface that already has a fully functional door," Prowl said with a sharp look at Ironhide, "or you who doesn't seem to grasp the purpose of that earpiece Wheeljack finally figured out for you." He said with a jerk of his chin towards the slim wire still wrapped around Aria's head.

Aria reached a hand up to touch the thin metal. She had sort of forgotten it was there, even with Prowl's incessant voice in her ear telling her to focus and get back to asking his already thought out questions forcefully whispering her ear.

Aria managed a bashful grin. She couldn't believe she had actually forgotten about it. "Sorry Prowl, I guess I kind of lost my head."

"I'll say," Prowl gave one last grumble before turning back to the bent over form of Nathanial Hawthorne.

"Well what do we do with him now?" He asked, turning toward Optimus Prime standing next to him. "There's not much point in trying not to alarm him now."

Aria gave a breathy laugh. "No, not really." She mumbled.

Optimus ignored her as he quickly sorted through what he still wanted to know. "Ask him about these dust devils first, see if they have anything to do with Megatron or Shockwave. That might tell us more then if we question him about the Decepticons directly. Ariah, would you ask him-"

"I beg your pardon great lord," the man suddenly spoke up, not lifting his head from where it still touched the ground, "but I can answer for myself. The go between isn't necessary." He said with a hesitant glance at Aria. "And as for the dust devils, while I am honored by the fact that you seek my lowly advice, I would not dare to presume to tell you what you already know. Only that there has been no change in the shades' activity since your," he took a deep breath, trying to think of the right word, "brother visited us when we first arrived on Aracia."

Prowl and Ironhide shared an uncertain look. Aria's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. Optimus was the only one that did not show his hesitation to the stranger. "Brother?" The largest mech said simply. He only had the one brother, a former youngling of his old guardian, and he knew for a fact that Ultra Magnus had never been off planet.

For the first time, Nathanial dared to look up at his newest questioners. He sucked in a breath of air without thought, his jaw tightening when he saw Optimus' head a scant yard away from his kneeling form. His brown eyes went wide as he stared, unable to look away from Optimus Prime's solemn face. At least, not until he saw Prowl and Ironhide standing behind him.

Nathanial swallowed hard when he saw Ironhide glare at him before giving a still irritated growl.

Nathanial suddenly found it safer to stare at the ground, although he did not press his head to the floor like before. "Yes, he had the same sigil on him as you do my lord." Then when he saw how Optimus' eyes narrow slightly, the human carefully tapped the side of his head, between temple and ear.

Optimus lifted a hand up to the same place on his own head. There was indeed a character there. He had seen it before, but had never given it much thought since its meaning had been lost long ago. Not even the Archivist, Alpha Trion, knew its meaning, or if he did he had never bothered to mention it.

"Stand up Nathanial Hawthorne, there is no need for your submission. We mean you no harm," Prime instructed. The man's kowtowing was making him uncomfortable.

The man did not stand, however he did raise his head away from the floor. "I-" he started hesitantly, obviously unsure of something, "Thank you my lord, but I would not dream of rising in the presence of a great deity such as yourself."

The three mechs all looked at each other, wondering if they had perhaps misheard the man, or perhaps just misunderstood him.

::Deity?:: Prowl asked through a pulsewave neither Nathanial nor Aria could hear.

A snort of laughter cut through their confused staring before either of the other two answer him.

All eyes turned on Aria. She clapped a hand over her mouth to try and hold in her laughter, but it was no use. It was too much, just too much. When she tried to breathe, her laughter just spilled out of her. She laughed so hard that she bent over double, bracing her hands on her knees.

"I-I-I'm sa-sorryheeheehee," she gasped past her laughter, "it's just, he-he thinks your g-g-gahahaha," her laughter overpowered her again.

Prowl gave Aria a flat look. The others waited in silence as she struggled to regain control of herself. Several minutes later, she tried again.

"He," she giggled as she wiped tears away from her eyes, "he thinks your _gods_." She giggled again.

Ironhide instantly stood a little straighter, his pride getting the best of him. "And what's wrong with that?"

Aria looked over at him and laughed again. "How about because just last week you tried – key word _tried_ – to pull a fast one on the twins for that time they turned you green, you remember that right?" She asked.

Ironhide rolled his optics. "As if I could forget." He grumbled.

Aria went on as if he hadn't said anything. "And it turned out so bad that I don't feel like I'm over exaggerating when I put the word 'epic' in front of what I recently heard called the 'Sparking Conduit Fiasco'. And I really don't think that any kind of gods – well, any kind of _real _God because let's face it, the Greek gods were more human then we are – would ever mess something up _that_ badly." She laughed again.

Nathanial pricked up at the mention of the old country of Crete (however odd her pronunciation was) but didn't say anything right then. Instead, he glanced surreptitiously up at the three beings his grandfather had called the Cybertronians and tried once again to think past the disbelief that was preventing him from comprehending the whole of what was going on around him.

The mechs just overlooked Aria's slight slip into human culture and stuck with the general point of her words. "Alright, you prove your point," Ironhide grumped.

Prowl gave a stinted laugh. "Yes, I highly doubt we would be in this situation if we were anywhere _near_ divine." He muttered lowly.

"What situation?" Nathanial asked, unable to contain himself any longer. What situation could exist that would give these great beings trouble? Even if they were not deities as the black one had said, they were still powerful enough that the lands south-east of Koror had been turned into a desert wasteland ever since of the legendary battle between the creator of the dust devils and the first Cybertronian Nathanial's people had ever met face to faceplates; nothing could or would survive in the wastelands for more centuries then Nathanial could ever hope to count.

The four other beings in the room turned and stared at him long enough that he thought that _maybe_ he should have kept his mouth shut.

"If you're telling the truth about this place you came from than nothing that concerns you-Hey!" Aria suddenly shouted, jumping slightly in her realization. "Wait a minute! You can understand them!" She said pointing between Nathanial and the mechs. "How can you understand them?"

Nathanial glanced up at her slightly. "Of course I can." He said as if it should be obvious. Then he frowned slightly. "So can you."

"Yes but that's because-" Aria stopped, rethinking her next few words, "of my extenuating circumstance." She jerked her chin at him. "What's your excuse?"

Nathanial glanced somewhat nervously up at the three mechs still watching him and Aria, but since they seemed just as interested as she did, he swallowed automatically, and then carefully reached a hand up slowly to the base of his neck and moved away the dark hair covering his tether line to Peg.

Aria leaned forward, but didn't step closer as she bent down to get a better look at Nathanial's neck. There was something embedded there, high up so that it was just about touching his hairline. It was brighter than a ruby and with all the dull, natural gleam of metal ore laced through rock.

"I told you already, I'm an Equines rider. My mount's name is Peg." He told them, as if this answered their questions. Then he shot them a muted glare. "She's the one you're mysterious friend spooked into smacking me in the head." He said pointing up at the bump on his forehead that had sent him unconscious to the ground seconds after he had caught sight of the blindingly blue cannon.

Aria stared him down coldly. "What makes you think 'Bee did that?"

Ironhide gave a dark laugh, but at a silent look from Prime, Prowl scanned the quarter sized stone instead.

The second in command made a small noise in the back of his vocal processor when he was done. "It's a kind of personal database." He told the others. "It seems to form a bond between the organic and the creature that Bumblebee found near the reservoir." Then he added silently via pulsewave so the humans couldn't over hear him. ::It also appears to be modeled after an old fashioned memory unit.::

Optimus muffled his surprise at the observation. ::It must have belonged to this 'brother' he mentioned before.:: He concluded.

"It looks like some kind of stone," Aria said with a curious look over at Optimus, Ironhide, and Prowl, interrupting their silent conversation.

"It is a tether line." Nathanial spoke up. "It forms a connection between me and Peg. We can hear each other almost anywhere." He said with a tight enough sigh that Aria knew that the 'almost' was referring to the interference signal Prowl had surrounded the room they were in now. "Through it I have access to all her innate knowledge on the dust devils and she and the other Equines gain an understanding of tactics and such."

"So…" Aria said thinking this over, "you're a battle pair."

Nathanial shrugged one shoulder. "Yes, of a sort."

"This innate knowledge you mentioned," Optimus cut in, "it comes from your creature's memory banks? And not her organic components?" He asked.

Aria's eyebrows furrowed up at her old friend. "Huh?"

But Nathanial understood. "Yes. We have done just as Nexus instructed us and not changed the form of the Equines ever since he created the first stallion."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ironhide said quickly, nearly giving Nathanial a heart attack when he waved his arms, along with his fully charged cannons, in front of him, "Nexus? As in Nexus _Prime_?" The mech asked in complete disbelief.

Nathanial's eyebrows furrowed closer together in confusion. How did they not know this already? "Yes…" the man said slowly, wondering where this line of questioning was going now.

Three sets of optic ridges rose at the name. They were quickly followed by one set of human eyebrows and Aria's confused, "Who?"

Prowl vented an exasperated sigh. "Do you not listen to a single thing I say?" He demanded, irritated. "He's one of the Thirteen."

Aria made a face at him. "Because that makes things so much clearer." She told him, and then quickly added before Prowl could really get angry with her, "Honestly Prowl, I've never heard of them. And I'd remember with a name like Nexus too, thank you very much. Was he the Prime before Sentinel then?" She asked.

Prowl simmered down a little, willing to take Aria's word on it. "Much earlier then that," he told her, "The Thirteen were the original founders of our world. The very first of our race."

Aria blinked. "Wow, he must be old."

Nathanial barely kept back his surprised cough of laughter.

Ironhide just sighed. "Figures that's the first thing you think of. What is it with you and age anyway?" He asked, not for the first time.

This time Nathanial failed to hide his humor. "It seems organic femmes are not your specialty friend. They tend to get a little irritated when you bring up their age."

Aria slanted a glare at the chuckling man, and then glowered up at Ironhide. "What he said." She grumbled.

"So tell us, 'friend'," Prowl said stiffly, "how is it a human like yourself knows how we speak, much less knows of Nexus Prime?"

Nathanial instantly sobered. "As I said before, Nexus Prime was the creator of the Equines. He came to Aracia in my great grandfather's time, shortly after the citizens of Atala arrived on the planet with the lemuria – the floating island," he clarified, only now realizing that they probably had no idea what he was talking about. "Before he appeared, great grandfather and the rest of Atala were doing what they could to hold back the dust devils – dark, shadow like beings that suck the life out of anything they touch – but it was all they could do to keep them out off of the island.

"Then," Nathanial smiled grimly, "Nexus appeared and, seeing their trouble, created a creature using his knowledge by combining a horse with what limited technology we had. The final touch," Nathanial said as he touched the red tether stone absentmindedly, "was a memory core he had created from spare parts he had with him. The Equines can tap into the core ever since they're born, however we use these tether lines to access the information through them. This is also why I can understand you." Nathanial said finally as he tapped the tether line with a finger, looking up at Prowl.

The black and white officer stared down at the human, arms crossed over his chest as he thought. "Very well," he finally murmured. Just from that Aria knew he still wasn't sure if he should believe the man or not. "You mentioned Karkadanns as well. What are they?"

Nathanial's face instantly turned dark. "Karkadanns," he spat, "are what the dust devils ride. They spawned them from the darkness that followed Nexus Prime once they saw how the Equines changed the playing field. They are tall beasts, completely black, like tar, that spit fire and have a sharp horn above and between their eyes." He tapped the spot between his eyebrows to illustrate.

Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "So they're evil unicorns?"

Ironhide, Prowl, and Optimus instantly sucked in air at Aria's words. They stared at her in horror. "Where did you hear that name?" Ironhide asked.

Aria wondered what it was that had her friends so on edge. "What? Unicorns? They're horse things with horns too, only their supposed to be good. Evil unicorns just sounds rather silly."

Optimus was the first to actually hear what she had said. "Ah, uni-_corns_," he stressed the last syllable so Prowl and Ironhide would understand, "A human reference. We thought you said," he quickly rethought his next words, "something else."

Aria looked up at the three edgy mechs, and then over at the other human. None of them looked at her. She had sort of expected this given Optimus, Ironhide, and Prowl's strange reaction, but if Nathanial knew what they were talking about, he wasn't saying anything either.

"Fine," she said harshly, "don't tell me why you freak out over pretty little unicorns. What else did you want to ask him?"

Prowl regained enough of his usual calm to return to business. "You said these creatures came from darkness that followed Nexus Prime. What darkness?" He asked, only slightly brisker than before.

Nathanial quickly weighed his options. He was lost, possibly even on another planet, being questioned by a race of beings he hadn't even thought were real until only a few hours ago, and separated from Peg _and _the cargo. It could be that they wouldn't ask many more questions about what had been left behind by their ancestors, but then, extraordinary circumstances or not, sometimes it was just better to keep some things to yourself.

"Nexus was followed by another calling himself Liege Maximo. The old stories say they were," he tried to think of a way to put this delicately, not knowing which side his questioners were on, "less then friendly."

Ironhide gave a short laugh. "Sure, you could say that."

"They fought," Nathanial told them shortly, trying to keep things brief, "and in the end Liege Maximo left, leaving the dust devils in a lurch. Nexus followed him soon after. I don't know if he ever found him again."

"He didn't." Ironhide said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Nathanial a stern look. "It was Alchemist Prime that defeated Maximo."

Prowl and Optimus turned to give Ironhide strange looks.

"What?" The weapons expert asked, almost defensively. "I know the stories as well as anyone else."

"Right, of course." Prowl said a little too quickly. He hadn't expected a mech like Ironhide to give two credits about the old stories.

Aria smiled and laughed lightly. "You're awesome Ironhide." She said with a grin.

"Uh, sure," Ironhide said, wondering what about this was making Aria grin like that.

Nathanial snuck a look up at the smiling femme. She had a pretty smile.

"Well," Optimus said thoughtfully, bringing attention back to the matter at hand. "It seems that our races are more intertwined them we knew. But perhaps it still might be best if we let you look after your own kind for awhile." He said as his gaze landed on Aria.

The woman pointed a finger at her chest in surprise. "Me?" She asked uncertainly, "Look after him?"

Optimus nodded once, slowly.

Aria looked over at Nathanial as if he was a dirty pair of underwear she wouldn't have touched with a fifty foot pole. The look on her face wasn't as lovely as her smile, but Nathanial supposed that it was better than the look of outraged loathing she had given him earlier.

"What, like a warden?" She asked, unsure of how to treat him now. "Aren't prisoners just locked up?"

Optimus eyed the man still down on one knee. Nathanial swallowed and tried to look trustworthy. He wasn't very keen on finding out if Cybertronian cells were any better than dust devil ones.

The large mech made a noise in the back of his vocal processor. "Given his accidental arrival it does not appear necessary to treat him so strictly. Just keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't go anywhere he's not supposed to. However this is all subject to change and our treatment of him is entirely dependent on his good behavior." The Prime said sternly, staring pointedly at the man.

Nathanial nearly withered at that look because he knew the Prime meant it. Every word. Following through on his threats would pose no trouble whatsoever.

Aria still looked unsure. "I don't know about this Optimus. Are you sure I'm the one you want-"

An explosive gust of air suddenly rushed out of the large mech, startling everybody present. "Ariah I don't have time to argue with you! Will you accept this assignment or not?" He shouted in frustration.

Aria took an involuntary step back as his voice echoed around the small room. Her breath froze in her chest as she stared up at her oldest friend, completely taken aback. Even Ironhide and Prowl looked surprised by their leader's sudden outburst.

Optimus saw the look on Aria's small face and immediately regretted his harsh words. "Ariah-" he started to say with a sigh.

"N-no," the human quickly said, eyes flashing to the floor as she tried to regain her composure. "It's, eh, it's alright. I understand. I should stop thinking of myself all the time." She mumbled as she moved a stray piece of hair behind her ear, ashamed of herself.

Optimus closed his eyes. That wasn't what he had meant at all. But he still didn't say anything. He didn't know _what_ to say.

"So, ah," Aria said, trying to get back to the problem that Nathanial Hawthorne presented, "what do I do with him then? Where's he not allowed to go and all that?"

"What about Peg?" Nathanial put in quickly. "And the supplies I left back near the lake? I need to retrieve those quickly."

Optimus flashed the second human a stern look. Nathanial's eyes turned back to the ground.

Optimus turned back to Aria. "He is never to be left alone, and make sure to keep him out of the restricted areas. However he may tend to the creature he brought with him. She's been locked in the main hall of the second floor in the Hall of Records. As for your supplies," he said sternly, turning towards Nathanial, "we cannot allow you to leave the city at the moment, for your safety as much as anything else. If it's possible, you may retrieve them at a later time." He turned back to Aria. "Any suspicious behavior will be reported to Prowl."

Ironhide leaned uncomfortably close to the two humans. Aria hardly noticed. She was too busy quirking an eyebrow at the troubled, thoughtful expression on Nathanial's face. "And if I hear even a rumor of him trying anything sneaky on you then we can skip Prowl and just have Ratchet sign off on the death certificate." Ironhide growled down at the male human threateningly.

Prowl raised an optic ridge at the menacing weapons expert and the clearly shaken organic mech, but for once he didn't mind the skip in his chain of command.

Aria just nodded, still fiddling with her hair. Prowl also noticed she refused to look up Optimus. "Right, fine." She said too quickly. "Got it."

Prowl shifted a look at his Prime, wondering if he was going to let the argument go unresolved. For a moment it looked like the red and blue mech would say something more, apologize and somehow get Aria to smile a little.

But no, he only sighed and nodded his head before pushing himself back to his feet. "Very well then. Prowl, what's Wheeljack's status? Did he find anything?"

Prowl crisply shook his head, turning his attention back to the more pressing issue of the war. Prime's friendship with the little organic wasn't any of his business anyway. "No, nothing useful."

Prime nodded once. "Alright, then it looks like you and Bumblebee are taking Wheeljack to Crystal City Ironhide. Good hunting, and try to stay out of too much trouble." Prime told the black armored mech, clapping him on the shoulder guard as he spoke.

Ironhide nodded. "Right."

He waited until Prowl and Optimus had turned and were heading back down the hall before bending down low towards the male organic. "The same goes for you too organic. Or hunting will be very good indeed." He rumbled at the man, charging one of his cannons to enunciate his threat.

Nathanial somehow managed to nod.

Ironhide gave one more little growl before standing and following the other two mechs toward the surface.

Stunned into stupidity, Nathanial stared after the three retreating frames, still unable to comprehend what had just happened. He hadn't actually been threatened by a _Cybertronian_, had he?

A slight movement to his left made Nathanial turn. The woman, they had called her Aria he remembered, was standing next to him, also watching the others leave. She looked pensive and unsure as she hugged herself, arms wrapped around her torso.

Nathanial wondered if he should say anything. It looked like she was still upset from the Prime's verbal rebuke. _"But then who wouldn't be?"_ He asked himself. _"He's a Prime. And, hard as it is to believe, it appears that they are fairly close."_

But when she didn't move after some time, Nathanial cleared his throat and carefully placed a hand on her arm, just above her elbow. "Miss? Are you well?"

Aria instantly spun away from the contact, as much from shock as for distance's sake. It had been ages since she had even _seen_ another human being, much less felt one touch her. Her skin hardly remembered what it felt like.

She took a deep breath once she realized that the man had only wanted to get her attention. She fussed with her hair again and briefly stared at the floor, feeling her face flush. She hated this. She felt off balance and didn't know what to do around him. Mechs were different than men. She could handle mechs. But before her was another human – a _man_ even– and she had no idea what to do with him.

"Aria," she said more sharply than she had meant, "my name is Aria. You should probably use it since it seems we're going to be spending a lot of time together from now on."

Nathanial nodded. "Very well, then you may call me Nathanial." He told her, hoping a first name basis would make things easier between them. He wasn't sure how long he could live sanely if she insisted on glaring at him every time he saw her or jerking away when he came close.

_"She must have been alone for a very long time."_ He thought to himself, feeling somewhat sorry for her. It was an awful thing for a human being; to be alone.

Aria nodded, unaware of his pity. "Fine."

There was an uncertain moment of silence.

Aria cleared her throat. "You, ah, you said you wanted to check on your horse-thing, yeah?"

"My Equines, yes." Nathanial corrected her.

Aria nodded, hardly noticing. "Right, well, she's this way." She said, and started to walk in the direction the three mechs had disappeared, not waiting for Nathanial.

He quickly caught up to her. The walked to the elevator in silence.

They were waiting for the doors to open when Nathanial finally spoke. "You are from Earth, yes?" He asked uncertainly.

Aria blinked at him as his words pulled her out of her own thoughts. "What?" she asked in apparent confusion, "Oh, yes. I am."

Nathanial nodded. He had thought so.

Another silent moment passed before he turned to her again and said, "Aracia."

Aria tilted her head slightly, silently asking what he was talking about.

"My," Nathanial swallowed hard against his disbelief, "my planet. It is called Aracia. Our floating island, the lemuria, has rested there for centuries, although we originally came from Earth like you. If I remember correctly, your ancestors called our island something along the lines of Atlantis."

Aria stared at him a moment, then sighed. "Of course it is." She murmured.

Nathanial would have asked her what she meant by that, but the elevator doors opened at that moment and he never got his chance.


	4. Chapter 4: Out of Practice

o.O Uh-oh, I think I may have single handedly started a mob intent on going after Optimus Prime. I didn't mean to I swear! I had no idea how strongly people would react to him yelling at Aria, but then, if he was yelling at _me _I'd sure be scared...

Anyway, um, on to safer topics. Has it only been a week? Wow. Well, during that one week I wrote a side story in honor of Valentine's Day. And guess what? I finished it today! Hooray! It's called _Attak of the Valentines _if you haven't read it and it's just chock full of fun and fluff. n_n I love it! *giggles proudly*

And if you don't want to read it, well, your loss, but here's chapter 4, and if I may say so, I really like this chapter. Let's just say that Ratchet is awesome and leave it at that. Because saying any more would probably give something away.

A great big thank you goes to everyone who read and/or reviewed. You guys are awesome! You have my undying gratitude. I hope you love this chapter.

Now Happy Valentine's Day! *heart!*

...

The Long Road Home

4 – Out of Practice – 4

Things settled down after that first initial meeting.

Well, sort of. The humans still weren't on good terms with each other, but they had entered into a kind of uneasy truce. At least, Aria remained uneasy. Nathanial just tried to appear disarming.

She just felt so _confused_. It had been so long since she had seen another human being that Aria had forgotten how to act around others like her. It didn't help that the last one she had been with was her little sister, Sera. A _completely _different scenario than the one she was in now.

_"I guess it's been too long."_ Aria thought a few days later as she sat on the top of a desk in one of the Hall of Records' long rooms, fiddling with her hair. The man, Nathanial she reminded herself, was tending to his horse-thing over by the window.

"I just don't know what to say to him, what I should do." Aria said, never taking her eyes off of Nathanial as he stooped to collect a brush from one of his saddle bags. He said something cheerful to the creature he called Peg before setting about smoothing the dark black fur that covered her haunches.

"Hmm," Ratchet made a noise from where he sat at the desk, sorting through paperwork on all of the mechs currently in his hospital. He was trying to sort out the 'can't get much betters' from the 'can't get much worse' charts. As usual it was making him more irritated than usual seeing the dire straits so many were in.

"I mean," Aria continued, hardly noticing Ratchet's distracted frame of mind, "I don't even understand half of the things he says."

"Welcome to my world." Ratchet muttered as he flipped through another record before throwing it on the 'can't get much better' pile.

Aria pretended she hadn't heard that. "And then what am I supposed to do with him now that he's seen me, well," she stumbled as her face suddenly lit on fire. She didn't want to actually say the word. "You know," she finished lamely, "I know you don't understand it-"

"Nope." Ratchet said, throwing a different record on the other pile.

"-but us human girls don't like others seeing us without our outer plating," she glowered into space, "_especially _by guys we don't even know."

"That's nice."

"And then what am I supposed to say when he talks about his home world? Or about these Riders and dirt demons and that horse-thing he's got with him?" Aria asked, quickly skipping over to another topic as she flung an arm out at the strange pair by the window. "I mean, what the heck _is_ that?"

Ratchet looked up from his daunting paperwork and frowned slightly at the bizarre creature that had come with the man. According to his story, it had been created by Nexus Prime to help the lost humans protect themselves against these shadow demons the man kept talking about.

Somehow, Ratchet wasn't surprised that Nexus was said to have created these creatures, even if it was just a story. The four legged beast was an odd combination of organic material and metallic composite. Dark black fur along her neck, back, and haunches intermingled with the matte black plating that protected the beast's sides, legs, chest, and stomach. The creature's tail was made of hair, but the short mane on her neck was actually made up of thousands of slender sensors that could pick various information right out of the air.

Her shoulders were the most reinforced, with both muscle and parts. Ratchet suspected this was because the creature could transform as the Cybertronians could. Unsurprising, given that Nexus was known for his constant desire for change, almost to the point of distraction according to some stories.

All in all, Ratchet found the beast quite interesting.

Aria found her creepy.

"She looks like a Halloween skeleton." Aria muttered to herself as Peg rolled one large, black eye her way.

"She has to be thin to keep up her speed and maneuverability." Ratchet explained as he turned back to his papers. "Otherwise her metallic parts would make her too heavy to be of any use."

Aria made a noncommittal sound. "She's still creeping me out." She muttered as she uneasily turned away from the staring animal.

"I suspect she doesn't like you very much so," Ratchet said as he laid another record down on a pile with a sharp 'smack' sound, "there's that."

Aria glared at the desk top. "Hate me all she likes she's not getting out of this room. And besides," Aria said with another glance at Nathanial, "she's not the one I'm worried about."

There was a gap of silence where the only noise was Ratchet's distracted tapping as he read and Nathanial's faint voice as he talked with Peg.

Aria broke the silence with a groan. "Oh, why did he have to just show up out of nowhere?" She whined, putting her head in her lap and covering it with her arms. "Everything was going just _fine_." She said, sitting up swiftly. She caught sight of the medical reports stacked a mile high in front of her and added sulkily, "you know, on a personal level. I certainly didn't need just some other human to come around and mess things up."

"Is that a hint of jealousy I hear Aria? That's rather unlike you." Ratchet said with a glance at her over his latest record.

"It is not!" Aria all but shouted.

Even Peg looked up at her after that. Aria felt her face burst into flame before she did her best to shrink in on herself as much as possible. After that she stared at the desk between her feet and decided not to say anything.

"You know," Ratchet added after a long, mortified moment, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say this man was making you rather anxious Aria. Didn't you do very well around mechs of your own species back home?" He asked with a slyness that was usually reserved for Jazz.

"My social life is none of your business." Aria hissed, trying to keep her voice low enough so the man couldn't hear her this time. "But just so you know, I've gone out with three, yes, you heard me _three_, different guys. So I'm not some social misfit thank you so much!" Of course she might be stretching the definition of 'date' a little too far counting Davy Morris, but Ratchet didn't need to know that.

"Yeah, back on Earth where you were surrounded by people. You've forgotten how to interact with your own species now. One organic mech is dropped into your life and you won't even talk to him." Ratchet pointed out.

Aria sputtered. "Because he saw me-!"

But Ratchet shook his head, cutting her off. "No, if that was all that had you riled up you would have smacked him and been done with it. I think this is about something else._ I_ think," he leaned in closer, his small grin making the remains of Aria's heart palpitate, "that you're attracted to him."

Aria's jaw dropped wide open. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Well, nothing that made sense anyway.

"You know what," Aria finally said a moment later, her voice pitched slightly higher than normal, "I have decided that I just don't care. I don't care what you think about my," she stumbled, "attraction issues. I don't care what he thinks _at all_. And I certainly wouldn't care if he thought I was the prettiest girl on the planet. Peeping toms are just not my type." She finished by settling her arms over her chest and sticking her nose in the air to show just what she thought of Ratchet's silly suggestion.

"Technically you're the only 'girl' on the planet," Ratchet looked up and gave her a flat look, "and you're not very good with denial, are you?"

"Well," Aria stuttered, blinking uncertainly before adding, "I still don't care."

Ratchet laughed slightly. "Then you know he looks over here whenever you mention him right?"

Aria's eyes went wide as he hands dropped back down to her sides. "What?" She squeaked.

Ratchet nodded as if he was only talking about the number of syringes he had in the med wing. "Oh yes, his heart speeds up a little too. You have him quite flustered."

Ratchet's words did some flustering of their own on poor Aria. She stood there, standing very still and blinking every so often as she tried to absorb the medic's words.

"But-" she tried, "I-I-bad, no! " She stammered. Then she blinked again. Not even Aria knew what had just tumbled out her mouth.

Ratchet closed the record in front of him with a snap and hung his head. "Dear Primus you are dense," Ratchet murmured in exasperation as he turned towards Aria and said as precisely, clearly, and simply as he could manage, "just go and talk to him already. I don't have time for your feminine shyness." He practically begged her.

Aria flinched at Ratchet's choice of words. She swallowed hard before noticing that her hands were shaking slightly. She wasn't that useless to them. She _wasn't_.

"It seems a lot of people don't have time for me lately." She mumbled, hurt. Then before Ratchet realized what was going on, she jumped down the staircase of partially opened drawers and walked towards to the windowsill where Nathanial and Peg were talking.

Ratchet vented a frustrated sigh, realizing he had upset her rather than just prodded her into action. "Aria, wait," he said, quickly getting up from the desk and rushing in front of her. "That's not what I meant." He said quickly as he practically collapsed in on himself to get closer to the girl on the floor. "It's just you've been going on and on about this mech for orbits now, not to mention the last few solid cycles, and it's getting you nowhere. All humor aside, if you really want to sort out whatever it is that's between the two of you, you're going to have to talk to him eventually."

He paused when he saw that Aria still wouldn't look at him. He sighed again as he knelt down and carefully placed a large finger under her chin to make her look up at him. "I'm sorry for what I said. You know I _do_ like talking with you, at least whenever I have records to go over. It makes the whole thing much easier to bear honestly." He said, trying to regain a lighter atmosphere.

It didn't go over very well. Aria looked up at him uncertainly and Ratchet saw the small tears that had been growing in the corners of her optics. _"Whoever said she was wasting their time first must have really cut her deep,"_ Ratchet thought angrily. _"If I ever find out who it was they're not going to be very happy about it."_ He thought darkly.

Aria quickly wiped her tears away, completely oblivious to Ratchet's inner thought process. "Alright, you're off the hook. I forgive you." She said, giving him a small, grateful smile. Then she glared and sternly pointed a finger at him. "And just for the record there isn't anything between us whatsoever."

Ratchet looked down at her, not sure what to make of that. "Well that does not mean you should avoid talking to him. Who knows when he'll even get a chance to go back to his planet after all, if ever? You could be stuck with each other for a very long time. Best to play nice."

Aria rolled her eyes, frowning slightly. "Do I really have to?" She asked, whining a little.

"Well since you've asked, yes." Ratchet said resting his one arm over his knee.

Aria shot a sour glare over at the man that was pretending not to notice their little conversation. Finally she gave a small, exasperated sigh.

"Alright _fine_," she hissed, "maybe he'll explain what his..." she looked at the skeletal creature that resembled a horse with mechanical implants, "…horse-thing really is." She grumbled before stomping towards the window.

Ratchet nodded decisively, a small smile pulling at his face plates. "That's my femme." He muttered to himself before standing and retaking his seat at the nearby desk. Before he sat though, he made sure to shift the chair so that it partially faced the window so he could keep a surreptitious optic on them, just in case.

Aria slowed her irritated stomping when she got closer to the window. She wasn't really sure about this, but Ratchet had never steered her wrong before. Maybe she should talk to the guy about what had happened…

Her thoughts trailed off when she reached the underside of the windowsill. She could hear the man now from where he was talking just above her. Strangely enough she could hear another, ghostlier, voice answering him back.

_ "I don't like this."_ The ghostly voice sulked, sounding like a small child.

"I know." Nathanial answered the pretty, feminine voice nonchalantly.

_"Can't we fly?"_ She asked him, sounding pitiful.

Aria's eyebrows furrowed. _"Fly?"_ She mouthed quietly to herself.

Nathanial sighed, as if the voice had been asking this for a while now. "No Peg, it doesn't look likely." He told her.

Aria found that if she stood as high as she could on her tip toes, she could see over the windowsill just enough to see the two that were somehow talking. Peg gave a whuffle as she twitched her long ears back and hung her head close to the floor. Nathanial had his back to both of them as he checked Peg's back hooves for stones.

_"I don't like this. I want to go home." _Peg thought despondently. For some reason Aria started picturing great swaths of green grass dotted with other skeleton horses when Peg spoke.

"I know." Nathanial said patiently.

Peg suddenly looked up. Aria froze as her eyes locked with Peg's large, solid black ones.

_"I don't like _her_."_ Peg said with an angry snort.

Nathanial finally sighed and hung his head. "Yes, I believe you've said that already Peg. And in all honesty, you don't really have to like her. Now can you at least _try _and talk about something e-"

Nathanial turned around and immediately saw Aria's blue eyes peering over the edge of the windowsill. For a moment the two stared at each other, too shocked to try and think of what to do.

Nathanial turned away, the edges of his face turning red. Aria was just glad that he could only see her eyes and not the neon red color the rest of her face had turned when she realized she had been caught.

"Ah…" Nathanial tried, still not meeting her gaze. "How, I mean, is there anything I can do for you miss…"

Aria held up her hand silently. She still didn't want to talk to him right yet, even if she had known what to say.

"Oh, of course." Nathanial mumbled, more to himself than to her, as he stepped forward and grabbed hold of her hand. Then with one smooth motion, he pulled her up onto the ledge under the window.

The stood there a moment, too close together for comfort, neither looking at the other. Behind her, Aria could practically feel Ratchet's unwavering stare as he watched them.

It didn't take long for Peg to get tired of this standing-around-staring nonsense. She snorted angrily again and stomped the floor with one, sharp edged, hoof, getting everybody's attention.

_"I don't like her."_ The creature thought bitterly.

Aria smiled sarcastically. "So I heard."

Peg's head shot up in surprise as she and Nathanial stared at the girl in something bordering on terror.

"You," Nathanial started uncertainly, "you can hear her?" He asked. For the first time since Aria had met him, he looked at her as if he might be scared of her.

Aria drew back slightly, not wanting to be too close in case he decided that she was his enemy. _"Watch yourself girl,"_ she murmured to herself in warning, _"if you're not careful you'll end up giving yourself away. No sense in him thinking you're a freak too."_ She thought, stubbornly keeping her eyes away from the spark in her chest.

"Yes," she said slowly, staring at the man and then his ride, "not that it's any of your business, but it's part of my extenuating circumstance. So if you'd be so kind as to mind your own beeswax, we'll get along just fine." She told him coldly. Her near death experiences were none of his business.

Nathanial eyed her again, logical thought overtaking his sudden suspicion. "You're talking about the reason you're here on Cybertron in the first place." He said, just to be sure.

Aria thought about it. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Nathanial exhaled thoroughly. "I see, of course." Then he looked up at her briefly again. "I do apologize for my suspicion. It's just," he paused, but the urge to tell her something, _anything_, so that she could understand grew too strong, "the dust devils have been trying to find a way to break, or at the very least eavesdrop, on the tether between riders and Equines for vorns. So you being able to hear us-"

"Freaks you out." Aria finished for him.

Nathanial tilted his head up slightly in thought. "Yes…" he replied eventually, "I suppose you could say that."

Aria smiled at him shrewdly. "You don't even know what that means do you?"

She managed to startle a coughing laugh out of him. "Not quite. Your…accent is giving me some trouble, I will admit."

Aria raised an eyebrow at him, a grin pulling sideways at her mouth. "Like you're one to talk. I can't tell if you sound more British or Greek," but then she looked up, "or maybe it's between Irish and Spanish?" She shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, I can't really tell, only that it sounds very sm-" she stopped herself before the word 'smooth' could escape, "uh, strange." She stammered, face turning red again. "It sounds very strange."

Nathanial watched her for a moment, his grin in place as he tried to figure out what she had originally meant to say. Aria just about hit her knees in gratitude when he didn't.

_"Like I needed _that _on the record."_ Aria thought, heart pounding slightly. Her spark burned hot with each beat, but she had gotten used to that over time. If anything she found it comforting. All she had to do was think one thought and at the very least Ironhide would come bursting through the wall with even more fireworks than before. Well, if Ratchet didn't beat him to the punch that is.

Feeling braver, Aria finally got to ask a question that had been bothering her since she had thought of it last night when she was more than half asleep.

"Why are you being nice to me?" She asked Nathanial abruptly, giving him a tight grin of her own. "I mean, I'm supposed to make sure you don't do-" she tried to think of what he actually _could_ do and came up short, "well, anything at all really. So what? Are you just trying to kiss up so you can slip away? Or are you just feeling overly guilty about your peeping tomary?" She asked, crossing her arms angrily over her chest.

Given her fiery glare, Nathanial decided that now was not the time to point out that 'tomary' was not a word, even in her mixed up form of English.

Instead he shifted his weight to one foot and met her shrewd, blue gaze. "While I can't say in all honestly that the thought of slipping away did not cross my mind, I _can_ say that I did not consider it a likely possibility."

Aria's slanted grin turned into a hard edged smirk. "Why? Afraid of what Ironhide might do to you if you run?" She asked, unable to completely hide her bitterness. _"Of course he wouldn't take me seriously."_ She thought, rolling her eyes to try and brush off her resentment.

Nathanial laughed at her, a loud, clear sound. "After that hit to the nose you gave me I've got as much to fear from you as I do from him!" He said with a grin. "And besides, I only have to worry about Ironhide if I hurt you, which in and of itself is more than enough to convince me to behave." He said with a playful smile.

His face fell a moment later. "But in all seriousness," he added, somewhat sadly as he leaned his back against Peg's solid frame, "where would I go? I have no idea how I got here or how to get back. Even if I did manage to escape, what is there out there worth running too?" He asked, motioning to the world beyond the window with an arm.

Aria thought about this before Nathanial gave a small, embarrassed cough. "And as for the, ah-"

Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "Peeping tomary?" She suggested.

"Sure," Nathanial said, his mouth twitching in what might have become a smile just a moment before. As Aria watched him carefully, he looked down at the ground, his hands shoved in his pockets. "I," he said as earnestly as possible as he looked up at her again, "I am truly sorry for what I did. If I had known you were-" he stumbled over the right word.

Aria's face turned chill, but inside she couldn't help but think it funny that he couldn't say the word either. "Naked?" She asked, her voice giving nothing away.

Nathanial turned red around the edges as he gave an embarrassed cough. "Yes, that. If I had known, well, I wouldn't have looked. Really." He stressed.

Aria narrowed her eyes at him, weighing his truthfulness in her mind. She stared at him for what felt like a full minute before Nathanial began to fidget uncomfortably. Of course he hadn't just expected her to believe him straight away, but was all this exaggerated pondering really necessary? The only thing Nathanial could figure was that men on her planet must have gone downhill since his ancestors had been flung halfway across space. Why else would she be so distrustful of him unless she thought he was blatantly lying?

When it became clear that neither forgiveness nor outright condemnation was forthcoming, Nathanial pushed away from Peg and turned to face Aria full on. "Will you at least let me make it up to you?"

Aria's eyebrows furrowed in confusion now, more than suspicion. "How?"

Nathanial paused. _"Excellent question."_ He thought as he looked around. His eyes lighted on Peg where she still stood quietly next to them, glaring at Aria out of the corner of her large eye.

His eyes lit up with an idea.

"How about you come for a ride?" He asked.

"What?" Aria asked, clearly taken aback slightly.

_"What?"_ Peg demanded, less than thrilled. _"If you think I'm paying for your slip-up then you are sorely mistaken!"_ The mare shouted as she stomped her foot angrily.

Aria flinched at Peg's shouting. "I don't think your pony likes this idea." She said flatly.

Peg's ears flicked backwards and flattened against her skull in warning.

"Would you please excuse us just one moment?" Nathanial asked, suddenly feeling very nervous. Then before Aria could answer, he grabbed Peg's bridle and pulled her a safe distance away from the human woman. Well, safe for Aria at any rate.

"Peg," Nathanial said in a low voice once they were far enough away from Aria, "I need a favor."

_"NO!"_ Peg shouted.

Nathanial leaned closer to Peg's long face and looked directly into her overly large, black eyes. "Peg please. This is very important to me. It looks like we could be here for a very long while and if this will show Aria that I meant what I said, then I'm going to try. I really don't want to ruin things with this girl Peg." He said pleadingly. "She's the only one that talks to me without threatening to shoot me." He grumbled afterward.

Peg fixed both of her large eyes on her human. _"More like you just want her holding onto you when I try and buck her off."_ She thought sourly.

"Peg!" Nathanial hissed.

_"What?"_ Peg asked, wondering why he was denying it. _"You were the one staring at her tail."_

Nathanial tried to remind himself that Equines were horribly literal creatures and that sometimes human actions went quite beyond them. But that still didn't stop him from grinding his teeth. "Yes, and look what trouble _that _got me in. Now are you going to help me apologize to her or not?" He finally demanded.

Peg started to sulk, her long ears twitching backwards slightly to show her displeasure. _"Alright fine." _She grudgingly conceded. _"But if she falls off that's her own problem."_ Peg thought maliciously.

"Peg, you can't be serious." Nathanial said, looking at his mare and knowing full well that she was.

Peg just blew out a breath of hot air.

"Promise me Peg." He said sternly, refusing to look away from her. "You've got to promise me you won't drop her."

The stubborn creature tried to look away, her large eyes rolling sideways, but a stiff shake from Nathanial made her look up again.

She rumbled unhappily in her chest when she realized her human would not be moved in this.

_"Oh alright,"_ she said sulkily, _"I won't drop the filly."_

Nathanial chose to overlook the fact that Peg had called Aria a filly – a little girl – rather then the beautiful mare she was.

Nathanial shook himself. He was doing it again; thinking in Equines.

He smiled gratefully at his Peggy Sue and stroked one of her long ears in gratitude. "That's my good girl." He told her. Like every time he fought with Peg, he felt sort of drained. Talking to her was like talking with your friend on a carnival ride; always going up and down and up and down and then suddenly sideways. It was enough to leave anyone exhausted.

Peg shook her head suddenly, throwing Nathanial's hand off. She still wasn't happy about this.

Aria watched in fascination as Nathanial stared into the eyes of his hor-er, Equines. She had the feeling they were having a conversation, but they were whispering now so she could just barely hear them murmuring on the edge of her hearing. And from the look on Peg's long face, it wasn't going at all the way she wanted it to.

But then Nathanial smiled, and ran a hand up his Peggy's ear. He murmured something to her, but Peg just shook him away, giving him an irritated look.

Nathanial just put his foot in the left stirrup and expertly threw himself onto Peg's broad back.

Then he held a hand out to Aria. "Care to go for a ride?" He asked again, grinning crookedly at her.

_"Oh, this is _so _not a good idea."_ Aria thought, as much as at the look on Peg's face that clearly said she would gladly step on Aria's foot if she got the chance, as at the smile on the man's handsome face. That smile did funny things with her stomach, filling it with butterflies, and she wasn't sure yet if she liked that yet or not.

Aria bit her lip and put off answering him, looking at Peg's glaring eye rather then Nathanial's welcoming ones, thinking they were safer. "I don't know…" she hesitated, "I still don't think your noble steed likes me very much."

Nathanial shrugged, but didn't dispute it. "She's promised to behave herself. Now come on. It's not often a non-Rider gets a chance to ride an Equines. And I think you'll like it." He told her, confident enough that she was willing to trust his judgment in this.

Peg snorted angrily.

"I think I know why you don't let strangers ride your horse-things." Aria said. But she was wavering now, and all three knew it.

"I promise to behave myself too, if that helps any," Nathanial tried, watching her earnestly before adding an almost pleading, "Let me try and fix things. Please?"

Aria slanted him a look that had just as much mischief in it as indignation at the memory. "I thought you already apologized." She said somewhat stiffly. "Unless you didn't really mean it," she suggested dangerously.

But Nathanial just smiled and shook his head. "No, I meant it, but that was an apology," he held out his hand to her again, looking for all the world like a modern day prince charming, "now let me make it up to you."

Aria thought about making up an excuse to get out of this, but…

She sighed. "Alright."

Nathanial smiled wider, truly pleased, before taking her hand and pulling her up behind him. The saddle was hard and sloped abruptly under Aria's tail bone as it conformed to Peg's back where it narrowed slightly before widening out to form her haunches. Aria shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable. Or at least stable enough that she didn't feel like she was about to fall off.

_"I wonder if I'm supposed to hold onto him?"_

Aria felt her face heat up as soon as the thought entered her mind. It just seemed so…_close_.

"Settled?" Nathanial asked over his shoulder, completely unaware of Aria's inward dilemma.

"Um…sure?" She said, not at all sure, nowhere even _near_ sure, as she hesitantly wrapped one arm loosely around his waist so she wouldn't fall off. Her face was so hot now she thought it must be glowing neon red.

Nathanial nodded before turning back to Peg.

"Now behave yourself Peggy," he whispered to her, pleading slightly.

Peg stomped a foot in answer before she started trotting over to the edge of the windowsill. With an expert jump, she leapt to the ground, making Aria give a strangled screech.

"Just hold on. You're doing very well." Nathanial said over his shoulder at her as Peg began to trot across the floor. From where he sat at the desk, Ratchet watched them intently, records completely forgotten now.

Aria had just stared to breathe again when Nathanial turned Peg back towards the window and stopped.

"Well," Aria said, only slightly disappointed that it was already over, "that was fun. Now how about you help me down from here and we'll call it ev-"

But Nathanial didn't seem to hear her. "Alright now Peggy Sue," he said leaning forward to pat Peg's neck, "you ready?"

A toss of her head said that Peg was.

"Alright then," Nathanial said, excitement growing as he kicked Peg into a trot.

"Hey!" Aria said, caught off guard. "What are you doing now?" She asked loudly.

Nathanial didn't answer her right away. Peg just tossed her head defiantly and gave a skip that had Aria automatically tightening her grip on Nathanial with both arms now, close or not.

_"Flying!"_ Peg answered joyously, loud enough that even Aria heard her clearly. _"If you don't like filly that's your problem."_

"Remember your promise Peg," Nathanial warned her, although Aria nearly jumped off right then and there anyway.

_"I only promised I wouldn't drop her!" _Peg shouted, screaming in delight as she now began to barrel towards the window.

"Uh-oh," Nathanial muttered. Peg was far too happy with her loop hole for comfort.

"Uh-oh?" Aria squeaked behind him, "There are no uh-oh's allowed on this ride! And where the heck is she going?" She demanded.

"Out the window." Nathanial told her, semi-calm. "You might want to hold on tight."

Aria tightened her already strong grip around his middle, making Nathanial cough.

"Not that tight." He told her.

And then with a powerful jump and a horsy laugh, Peg leapt onto the sill and straight out the window.


	5. Chapter 5: Up In the Air

Back again, back again, jiggedy-jig. :D I had such an awesome weekend! Not only did it include chocolate covered strawberries and potato chips (mmm...) but I wrote almost two solid chapters and polished off a third! XD I'm up to chapter 11 and starting on 12! *Excited squee-ing!*

And yay for reivews too! I think I answered most of them this time. (Ha ha! Go me.) But just cuz I can say it again: I love you guys! You're all just so awesome! :goofy anime hearts!: And to my surprise Peg got some fans too. I just wanted to make her blunt and kind of a pain...and I guess people like that about her... n_n; Although personally I think this chapter has the epitome of Peg-ness. ;)

Right, so here we are at chapter five. Wow, already a month has gone by. Hooray! But be warned, some scarieness is sneaking in now, and not because of Aria's old fear of heights either...

Kudos to those who catch the _Vertigo_ reference! Although honestly I don't think it's all that subtle...Until next week!

...

The Long Road Home

5 – Up in the Air – 5

The free fall was magnificent to Nathanial's mind. The wind was a roar in his ears and strong enough against his body that it nearly threatened to unseat him as Peg angled down sharply into the dive, gaining momentum as she streamlined herself for the fall. Behind him, just barely over the roar of the wind, he could just barely make out Aria's frightened screaming.

The smaller human was pressed tight against his back, too terrified even to loosen her choking hold on his stomach. Nathanial just rolled his eyes at her. _"So little faith," _he thought to himself with a grin. It wasn't like he and Peg were _new _at this.

But a few more terrifying seconds passed and still Peg didn't pull out of her dive.

_"Peg?"_ Nathanial shouted in his mind, his voice unable to compete with the wind's noise. _"Peg what are you doing? Pull up!"_

Peg just laughed at him, sounding both mischievous and delighted in his head even though her voice was lost to the air around them as it swallowing them whole.

_"Peg this is no time for playing chicken!"_ Nathanial shouted internally. _"Now Pull. Up!"_

_ "You're no fun."_ Peg grumbled, but listened to him eventually, albeit reluctantly.

Nathanial's anxiety eased when he felt the familiar sensation of Peg's transformation around him. Beneath him, he could feel the spasm like movements of Peg's muscles as her secondary muscles came closer to her skin and the muscles that worked her legs receded into the inner workings of her body. If he just barely slit his eyes open, he could see past his watering eyes to catch sight of Peg's large, leather-like wings as they grew larger and shifted around them. Her legs, on the other hand, pulled up tight against her stomach as the muscles receded and stiffened so her legs couldn't move until her wings had been streamlined back into her body. That way, her shoulder muscles wouldn't get confused between which to work with; her legs or her wings.

Her modified aerial form was completed in only a matter of seconds and with a powerful '_swoosh_', Peg beat the air, regaining control of their fall. Though Aria didn't notice with the way they were still spiraling downward. Peg's acrobatic spin didn't seem to help anything either.

Nathanial couldn't actually sigh as the g-forces slammed him sideways. _"Come on Peg, is this really necessary?"_

Her joyful neigh and mid air jump over a bridge that spanned the two nearest buildings said that it was.

Thankfully a moment later she leveled off, choosing to dart between the tall buildings rather than swooping under the numerous closed off bridges that connected the whole city together like some artfully designed web.

They had just swooped around their third building when Aria finally realized that they weren't about to crash in a fiery ball of death. Her screaming trailed off as she hesitantly opened one eye, and then the other to see what was going on.

"W-what is this?" Aria shouted nervously in Nathanial's ear, but even then he could hardly hear her.

He chuckled at her. "I already told you; we're going for a ride."

"You didn't say it was at a twenty-thousand feet cruising level!" She shrieked in his ear.

"Don't be ridiculous," Nathanial said with an appraising look at the ground far below them, "this has got to be fifty thousand at the very least."

He didn't need to see her to know that Aria had rolled her eyes at him. "Because that makes things so much better!" She shouted over the wind in absolute terror.

Peg began to spiral up and around one of the taller, thinner, structures amidst the city heights. "Would you relax?" Nathanial yelled over his shoulder at Aria. "Just take a deep breath and _look_ at everything around you." He said just as Peg came to the peak of the building.

Aria gasped when she saw what he meant. They were hovering over the tallest building in Iacon now – what had used to be the hall where the ruling council of Cybertron had met – and below them spread out what felt like the entire planet of Cybertron.

It was at once beautiful and terrible to look upon.

Aria felt her heart threaten to break at the panoramic view of ruin and destruction beneath her. As far as her eye could reach, the broken bones of cities greeted her, gilded by the dying light of the sun as it sunk low towards the horizon line.

_"So much is gone now…"_ She thought, tears that weren't just from the stiff wind appearing in her eyes.

Aria sniffed before she could really start weeping and threw out an arm at pile of rubble she was very familiar with as a distraction. "Th-that used to be Primahex there," Aria said, finally able to hear herself speak now that they had stopped moving. Nathanial followed her finger to the ruinous land off to their left close to the horizon. "It used to be one of the biggest exit for sparks from the Well of Allsparks. That's all that's left now." She told him somberly.

Nathanial looked out at the sacked city with narrowed eyes. It was not what he had expected from beings like the Cybertronians. The stories that persisted back home only spoke of Nexus Prime and his bravery. They never spoke of anything like this.

Behind him, Aria kept talking, needing to hear something besides the wind in her ears as they gently bobbed with Peg's powerful wing beats. "And over there is the Space Bridge. That's probably what brought you here in the first place." She said, showing him just in time before the bright light of the bridge sputtered and died. Again. "And way off in the distance there," she said, pointing at what appeared to be a speck of rainbows just over the horizon, "that used to be Crystal City. It's the spot that's kind of sparkly." Aria told Nathanial. As they looked on, the sun's fading light caught the ruins of the crystalline city in a brilliant curtain of prismatic color.

Unfortunately the pretty colors didn't ruin the heart-breaking atmosphere. Shivering a little now, from the cold as much as the mood, Aria wrapped her arm around Nathanial's waist again when she was done playing tour guide. "It used to all be so beautiful." She whispered mournfully as she took in the destruction that had devoured her adopted home.

"I can imagine." Was all Nathanial could think to say.

"No," Aria murmured, just loud enough that Nathanial heard her, "you really can't."

Off to their right, about halfway along the ground based power lines that fed the city of Iacon, a sudden burst of sharp lights caught their attention. They were grouped closely together and a few seconds after they appeared, Aria heard the harsh sounds of weapons' fire. The bass noise of large artillery accompanied them a few seconds later.

Aria tightened her grip on her host. "It looks like a firefight. We should get out of here." She told him, sounding uneasy again.

But Nathanial wasn't looking at the sudden fight. Instead, he was looking more below them at the edges of the city.

"Nathanial?" Aria asked behind him. "Hey, you alright up there?" She asked nervously. He had better be alright. She didn't know how to fly this thing.

"Huh?" Nathanial snapped out of his staring. "Oh, yes," he seemed to return more to his usual self, "just thought I saw something down there."

Aria looked down, nearly pulled a Hitchcock-style Jimmy Stewart, and quickly looked back up. "Probably one of Hound's patrols." She told him, looking over at the gunfire again. "You know we really should get back down. You aren't the only thing that can fly around here. And most of the others aren't exactly friendly." She warned him.

Nathanial nodded, finally dragging his attention away from the slight movement he had thought he had seen. "Right, come on Peg."

Peg shook her head, but with a flash of her powerful wingspan, she gently arced back closer to the planet's surface. Once they were back under the relative cover of the buildings and out of sight of the gunfire, Peg's playful streak reasserted itself.

_"So serious," _she laughed at her two riders, _"so boring!"_

"Hold on," Nathanial warned Aria as Peg leapt forward, neighing a challenge to the air.

And then they were off again.

Aria pressed her face tight against Nathanial's shoulder as the icy wind began to rush past them again. She felt like she on some sort of crazy rollercoaster that had jumped its tracks and was now doing it's best to lose her in the wind stream. Just barely opening her now watering eyes, Aria watched, breath caught tight in her throat as Peg soared, wheeled, ducked, and careened all throughout Iacon's impressive, smoke streaked towers.

Aria's heart felt like it was literally in her throat, choking her, as the Pegasus-like creature soared around towers with almost a carefree accuracy. She spun and glided in tight, twisty, turns and by the time she went through her first loop the loop, Aria couldn't tell if she wanted to laugh hysterically or start crying uncontrollably. She was terrified and exhilarated all at once. It was unlike any other kind of flying Aria had done. Planes were so stiff and required strict attention. And Peg, well, Peg would have been insulted if you so much as told her she was supposed to hang a left at the next street.

Aria somehow found the muscle strength to lean closer to Nathanial's ear. Even then she had to shout to be heard. "We should go back soon. Any longer and Ratchet will think you've kidnapped me, and there where will you be?"

Nathanial smiled nervously at her over his shoulder. "Good point. Peg!" He shouted at their host. "Time to go back."

Peg tossed her head angrily, but with enough resignation that Aria didn't think she'd have to pick a fight with the horse-like creature.

A tingle in the air was her only warning. It felt like something just up and bit her, making Aria jump a little in the saddle.

In front of her, Nathanial pulled back on the reigns nervously. "Peg..." he drew out her name warningly, "what are you doing?"

Peg tossed her head, wings flapping agitatedly. _"You said you wanted to get there fast!"_ Peg protested.

"Not that fast!" Nathanial shouted over the wind still roaring in their ears.

Their little conversation did nothing to soothe Aria's anxiety. Instead, she started to feel more and more nervous as some kind of electricity – sharper than static, but still not a lightening bolt – sprung up around them. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up in alarm. Soon enough there was enough electricity in the air that Aria could see little flickers of white as it zapped between the fine little hairs on her arms

"Uh, Nathanial?" Aria tried, her voice rising to a squeak as the pressure of the unseen electric cloud grew stronger.

"Peg-" Nathanial tried to say, obviously not liking whatever the oppressive cloud meant, "this is not a good ide-!"

But his words were cut off as the air suddenly broke around them. Aria screamed as a large, gaping hole suddenly rent the air in front of them, opening up like a mouth as great, jagged teeth of lightening darted across the maw, leaving bright streaks of light etched onto the backs of Aria's retinas.

"What isthat?_"_ Aria screamed in terror.

Nathanial looked over his shoulder just enough that Aria saw the determined set to his jaw. "Transportation portal." He shouted over the sudden rage of wind and lightening. "You're going to have to hold on tight." He said, tightening his own grip on the reigns. "And whatever you do, don't let go!"

"We can't go in there!" Aria shrieked. But it was too late. They no longer had a choice as the portal sucked them in with all the force of a miniature black hole.

Aria opened her mouth to scream again as Peg flew straight into the gaping mouth of the portal, but her breath was abruptly stolen from her as something with the force of a sledge hammer slammed into her chest. Panicked, she tried to breathe, but it was useless fighting against the pressure that was choking her, pressing her away from Nathanial and threatening to tear her from Peg's back altogether.

Somehow she held on tight as space and time seemed to stretch sickeningly around them, going on like that hallway in that one nightmare that just never seems to end. Aria felt like her insides had been nailed to something at the far end of the portal behind them and as she went deeper into its depths, they stretched out behind her like fresh taffy being pulled.

Aria tried to scream again, but she couldn't tell if she succeeded or not. There was too much noise. Or maybe it was too much silence. Either way Aria's head just about exploded.

And then just as suddenly, the three of them popped back out into real space and zoomed too quickly through the Hall of Record's open window, zooming between the very surprised forms of Ratchet and Prowl to slide across the long room in something that _might_ have been a landing.

Before she knew what was happening, Aria hit the floor with a breath stealing, "Oof," her shaking legs and arms unable to hold onto Peg or Nathanial anymore. She was quivering and shaking hard enough she thought it was a wonder she didn't just shake into jelly. She tried to sit up once, but then the room span so much that she changed her mind and decided to lay there until the funny colors following her decided to go bug someone else instead.

"Peg!" Nathanial yelled at his partner immediately, "I told you not to hurt her!" Somewhere in the back of her rattled mind, Aria thought somewhat jealously that Nathanial didn't even sound a little winded.

_"No, you told me not to drop her." _Peg said in her nitpicky way, _"And I didn't. She fell."_

Nathanial quickly swung off of Peg's back, rather than just falling off like Aria had. He wasn't sure which to do first; see to Aria or yell at Peg for doing such a stupid, selfish trick as that.

Seeing Ratchet and Prowl running up to them, he decided that Aria was probably better off in their hands. He turned to Peg with a glare instead. "You scared her out of her mind. Look, she's shaking like a leaf!"

_"Oh don't get your bit out of place,"_ Aria dimly heard Peg say with a verbal laugh, _"the filly has more spunk then I thought."_

Confused by Peg's words, Nathanial looked down at Aria. Even then it took him a moment to realize that she wasn't crying like he had thought; she was laughing, and hard enough to make tears stream down her face.

It took Aria a moment to realize this too.

"Aria?" Nathanial asked hesitantly, kneeling down to get a better look at her. All he could think of was what Ironhide was going to do to him when he got back if Peg really had broken her somehow. "Aria, are you alright?" He asked again, gingerly helping her sit up.

Still too wobbly to support herself, Aria leaned her head against Nathanial's shoulder as she tried to get her hysteria under control.

"Th-that," she managed to say through her dwindling giggles a few moments later, "was…_awesome!_"

Nathanial stared at her. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"It was like, whoosh!" Aria cried, flinging her arms out excitedly. "And then, then all zoom! And flash! And," she finally breathed as she fell back flat on the ground, her laughter shrinking into delighted giggles. "And _wow_," she finally mumbled.

Nathanial stared at her in all out shock. "What?" He repeated tentatively, not sure what to expect anymore. Prowl and Ratchet seemed to be having just as much trouble understanding what was going on as he was. It struck him as slightly odd, but at least they hadn't shot him yet.

Peg just gently nudged his back with her soft nose.

_"I like her."_ Peg told him, already forgetting that just a few minutes ago she had tried to scare Aria out her mind.

Nathanial just hung his head and groaned.

...

Standing stunned off in the background, Ratchet dazedly watched the two humans as Aria did what she did best and confounded the human male that was Iacon's most recent guest.

Next to him, Prowl looked just as stunned as Ratchet felt. "And here I thought organics were supposed to understand each other." The black and white officer mumbled.

Ratchet let himself laugh briefly through his daze. "I guess not." He paused. "At least when we don't understand her we have the excuse of being a different species." He mumbled, still dumbfounded.

The part of Ratchet's processor that wasn't staggered to the point of stalling watched the organic pair with quite a different kind of wariness as Aria started to laugh at the stunned look on the other human's face. The medic had been old even before the war had started (a fact which Jazz liked to point out often) and he had seen lots of things, met lots of bots. To put it short; he had become a fairly good judge of people.

And despite the differences between species and cultures, he still couldn't help but notice how much more relaxed Aria was around then man than she had been before this insane little joy ride. This small, still rational, part of his mind was instantly put on guard, not liking what this new ease could mean.

But most of his processor was still too floored by what had just happened to notice anything more then the fact that Aria had just disappeared on a flying beast and then reappeared just as quickly through a _transwarp_ _portal!_

So when Aria playfully shoved Nathanial on the arm, he hardly noticed, but he would certainly remember it later.

...

Standing in the outskirts of Iacon, the last mech that should have been there looked up just in time to watch as the creatures he had been monitoring for the past few kliks were abruptly swallowed up by a transwarp portal. His sensors picked them up a nanoklik later closer to the center of the city.

He vented air in disgust as he lost interest in the creatures. As if those sickly bipedal organics weren't bad enough, now there was a true techno-organic abomination with them. Not just that sad excuse of flesh and spark that lived with the Autobots like some sort of pet that didn't know how to mind its own business.

"Waste of existence." The large, gray mech growled to himself, low enough that the two mechs with him didn't hear. He didn't know their names – they didn't really matter this low on the fuel chain – only that they were not incompetent enough to get them lost, so that, at least, bode well.

_"For them,"_ he added to himself.

The smaller of the two guides turned around, feeling the gray mech's stare boring into his back.

"L-lord Megatron? Is something upsetting you?" He somehow found the courage to speak.

Megatron regarded the smaller mech with a cool optic. "Only your irritating questions." He snapped coldly.

The small mech instantly fell silent, bowing in obvious submission. He did not dare to argue against his fearsome commander.

Megatron turned away from the mech to inspect his surroundings once more. He had insisted on coming himself, in person, to search the outreaches of the Autobot base-city. He had also insisted on no one else of importance being there, especially that sycophant Starscream. He didn't need him stirring up trouble now when they were this close to triumphing over the Autobots. And once they were done here, Megatron knew he would be _very_ close indeed.

Fortunately, he had found a way to distract the Seeker that wouldn't arouse his suspicion. By having him pick a fight with the patrols that constantly guarded Iacon's borders, Megatron had gotten Starscream _and _the Autobots out of the way of his search.

The Decepticon leader paused along the scattered path that marked the edge of Autobot held space. He could feel it now. The object itself was very close, close enough that Megatron no longer needed Shockwave's locator device to find it, although the two mechs watching it clearly did.

_"Weaklings."_ Megatron thought as he took the lead. One of the nameless mechs nearly protested, but the one that had spoken earlier quickly stopped him.

They followed him silently after that, occasionally talking to each other, but not very often. They could feel it too now. They were very close.

Megatron finally stopped outside a small rubble of blasted apart building. It was hollowed out inside, with just enough space for the large mech's hand.

Without sparing a look at the two mechs he had brought with him, Megatron reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt from the cave floor, the object too small for him to see offhand.

The smaller mechs watched in outright fascination, not to mention confusion, as their leader let dirt and rubble sift through his fingers.

Eventually the more nervous of the two somehow gathered the gall to speak. "So, ah, Lord Megatron, is it here? Whatever, ah, whatever it is we're looking for?" He stuttered.

A muffled thump got their attention before it could become clear that Megatron wasn't going to answer the lesser Decepticon. The three bots looked down to see what it was that had fallen out of Megatron's hand along with the streams of the planet's surface.

A dusty, violet hue was nestled there in the newly made hills of loose grit at their feet. The chatty mech made to lean down to pick it up, but Megatron quickly shoved him away with enough force to throw the mech back against a pile of larger rubble.

"Don't touch it you fool." Megatron growled as he flung away the remaining grit in his hand. "It is not something a weakling like you can handle."

"Y-yes, Lord Megatron," the mech answered, not moving for a klik. Privately, he wondered what it was that had Lord Megatron so worked up.

Neither of the two smaller mechs spoke as Megatron leaned down and retrieved the violet glow from the ground. He hardly remembered they were there as he shook off the flimsy, cloth covering that had shielded its light before, and dusted the object off to reveal a thick lens made of clear, crystal like material. Even though you could see right through it, the lens-like object glowed with an inward violet light that had the other two mechs unconsciously shrinking away from it.

Megatron just grinned as he straightened up. The light from the lens illuminated his face plates from below, turning him into a nightmarish vision of savage glee.

"What is it Lord Megatron?" The mech that had up till now been silent asked, his voice subdued from a sudden state of awe.

"This," Megatron said, deciding to finally deign them with an answer, "is our key to _victory_."


	6. Chapter 6: Repercussions

Woo! Over _50_ reviews! Have I told you that you're all awesome yet? I have? Well I'm going to say it again anyway. You guys are all awesome! I must thank you all! Tremendous thanks go to AnimeVamp1997, firegirlf16, Plagueblood90, Mercedes Wolfcry, Vivian Hale, annebellelennox, LadyAmazon, Phaeddra39, Ichigo Zetsubou, and Birgitte LP! Thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou... Now, uh, I've been meaning to answer you guys (really I have) just so you know. I'm just a horrible procrastinator, so I'm going to try and do that right now, hopefully...sorry if I don't! It's not that I don't like you. I'm just kinda *cough cough lazy cough*

Uh, anyway, I noticed this chapter leans more toward the introspective, so hopefully you still like it, because I'm not sure if Aria's running over familiar ground in her head or not, but I thought she needed to think these things and such...

Oh, and not only does Ratchet have probably one of the best dang lines in the whole world in here (It cracks me up every time I read it. I'm telling you, whatever muse put it into my mind is _brilliant_.) but also know that when I mention the office twit/suit, I want you to picture someone like Galloway...*devious grin*

Sorry for the long top note, but hope you love the chapter! See you next week!

The Long Road Home

6 – Repercussions – 6

"That was a horribly reckless thing to do!" Ratchet shouted at Aria where she stood on Prowl's desk several short cycles later.

Aria resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. He had been going on like this for the past twenty minutes. Sputtering and making a big fuss over nothing.

"Ratchet would you just calm down?" Aria tried for what felt like the thousandth time. "It was just a simple misunderstanding. I didn't know he was going to jump out the window!"

Ratchet glared down at her and tried to speak, but nothing would come but an old mech's frustrated groan.

Aria turned around towards Prowl where he stood, hands clasped behind his back like usual, on the other side of his desk. "Maybe you can make him intelligible. What the heck is he so worked up over?"

Prowl stared down at the little organic on his desk. _"She can't honestly not understand."_ He thought somewhat incredulously. But then he vented a sigh as he realized yes, yes she could.

"Aria," he said calmly as he sat so he could meet her eyes without getting a crick in his neck, "you were put in charge of him. He could just as easily have kidnapped you so he could ransom you in exchange for his freedom."

Aria frowned up at the former law enforcement officer. "But isn't he free already? I thought Optimus said he wasn't a prisoner."

Prowl blinked at this different thought of logic. He felt his logic processors slip slightly, having trouble at the sudden change in view.

He quickly brought them back under control. "Just because he isn't high risk doesn't mean he can just go wandering everywhere he wants. Aria," Prowl said, leaning in closer to her to try and impress this on her small organic mind, "we don't know anything about him. He could be dangerous."

Aria crossed her arms over her chest and gave Prowl a look that said just what she thought of _that_ theory.

"Yes, yes exactly!" Ratchet jumped in again, still highly agitated, "listen to him for once would you? He could have hurt you. Dropped you from a thousand feet in the air and then where would you be? Not even your growing healing abilities could have saved you then."

Aria frowned in earnest now. Ratchet knew better than most the physiological changes that had happened to her over the years. Her spark hadn't just extended her life and solved her diabetes; it connected her to the bots at a very personal level. Even changing her brain's ability to comprehend advanced mathematics that before would have just looked like some kind of modern art to her, along with amping her body's natural healing ability. Fortunately the change was rather shallow, and didn't affect her at her simplest, atomic, levels. No metal exoskeleton or anything like that. But it had still gone deeper than her skin too. It had added a new layer of understanding to her life, one she wasn't always comfortable with.

Aria glanced up at Ratchet sulkily. "You know I don't like it when you bring that up Ratch'." She grumbled up at him.

Ratchet met her unhappy gaze. "Well like it or not it's still the truth, just like falling off that creature would have ended your life." He told her sternly.

Aria looked down at the table, still sulking. "Alright, so I'm sorry I worried you, but," she quickly added before either mech could think _'well thank goodness that's over'_, "I already knew he wasn't going to just run off with me."

"Oh?" Ratchet said with enough skepticism to melt armor, "And how's that?"

Aria looked like it should be obvious. "Because he told me so."

Prowl thought about this, his logic processors slipping even more now. He tried not to think about Aria's faulty reasoning, but of course that only made it worse.

Fortunately before he could glitch altogether, Ratchet found his voice again. "Because he told you so?" He demanded, furious, "Yes of _course_! Why didn't I think of it earlier? After all he has no reason to just _lie_ does he? I'm sure that's just what _all_ the hostages say to their captors!"

Aria shot Ratchet a glance to show how much she appreciated his sarcasm.

Prowl just nodded, sanity beginning to return. Aria just sighed. "Think about it Ratchet, where's he gonna go? The only place he's got left to go is _here_. He's as stuck as I was, cut loose from everything he thought he knew. The only remaining contact he's got with humanity now is me and it's precious little seeing as we grew up on different _planets_." She pointed out.

Prowl nodded slower now. It was starting to make more sense. Relieved, he relaxed slightly. His processors would be fully stable in a moment now so there was no need to resist the glitch so hard.

"And besides," Aria kept going, "it wasn't like that was _dangerous_ or anything."

Prowl came to the very brink of crashing before he realized that Aria had been kidding. He had grown used to many of her odd human tendencies and sayings. Sarcasm, however, still gave him obscene amounts of trouble.

"Enough!" He said before Ratchet could retaliate, gripping tightly to his sanity as well as his desk. He was quiet a moment more as he mentally balanced himself. After a long moment, he un-shuttered his optics to see Ratchet and Aria watching him expectantly. Inside he felt pleased that they had enough respect for him to pay attention, even though he was on the brink of just freezing up and crashing to the floor.

"I will be adding another mech to keep optics on this other human. You will still watch him Aria, however any questions will go through him. If you still have uncertainties, you come to me. Is that clear?"

Aria nodded, somewhat subdued. "Yes Prowl."

"And Ratchet, I want you to keep an optic on this creature he brought with him. No more leaping out of windows or jumping through teleportation portals." He ordered sternly.

Ratchet nodded once in understanding. "Fine by me." He added.

Prowl looked at each of them again. "Very well then, you can both leave. Your human is in the brig Aria." He told her before the little human had so much as opened her mouth before turning back to the reports on his desk.

He did a quick double take as he finally registered the bright red line that suddenly appeared on Aria's neck. He watched, slightly confused, as it crawled up her face like some kind of cartoon.

"Aria?" Prowl asked slowly, aiming for delicate. He had always known that Aria was, ah, wired differently than the rest of them, but if something had actually, well, fried in her small organic mind, he didn't want to just blurt it out like some other mechs he knew. Mainly Jazz. And the twins. Oh, and Bluestreak, but he wasn't even in the city at the moment.

"Aria?" Ratchet said sounding a little alarmed. "What's wrong with you now?"

Prowl gave what might have been a sigh. _"And Ratchet."_ He added to his list.

Aria's mouth dropped open, but it took her a klik to actually force sound out. Whey would Prowl even _say _that? She barely knew him and-

The knowledge that the SIC had meant her _assignment_ was waiting in the brig abruptly came and smacked Aria upside the head. She felt horrible stupid for not understanding that the first time and she made sure to give Prowl and Ratchet good, strong glares.

"I hate interplanetary possessive pronouns!" She shouted at them, stamping her foot to show just how much they annoyed her. "And for Heaven's sake quit calling him _mine_. It's mortifying!"

Prowl and Ratchet stared at her before their optics met briefly over her head. Prowl saw that they were thinking the same thing. What organic offense had they stepped into now?

"As long as you keep an eye on him I don't really care if he's your new dress manikin." Prowl told her, optic ridges furrowing together as he thought of the last mess that stupid torso figure had caused him.

Aria must have remembered that solar cycle Prowl had caught sight of the armless humanoid figure too because she suddenly refused to look at him as she tried to keep the grin off of her face.

Prowl gave her a mild glare. "And Aria," he waited until she was looking at him again, "no more joy rides." He told her sternly.

Aria bit her lip sheepishly now. "Yeah, alright then." She told him as she turned toward the door, their meeting obviously over.

Ratchet humphed as they left. "Joy rides." He grumbled. "I can't believe you have to actually be told that getting on a strange creature with a strange man you are charged to keep out of trouble is a bad idea. I should check your head again."

Aria glared up at him. "Don't give me that," she told him, "You're the one that told me to go talk to him." She argued back.

"Yeah, _talk_ to him," Ratchet told her incredulously, "not get on his beast and ride off into the sunset through a twelfth story _window_."

The door slid shut behind them before Prowl could hear Aria's response.

Prowl just shook his head as their muffled noise receded down the hall.

"By Primus, I swear they're worse than the twins sometimes," he mumbled to himself, getting back to the intelligence reports he had been sorting through before being so loudly interrupted.

...

Aria left Ratchet a few minutes after leaving Prowl's office. He was still grumbling at her as he turned right to head back to the med bay. She could hear him muttering as he stomped down the hall, frightening some poor runner on his way to hand a report off to someone or another higher up the ladder.

"Of all the rash stunts she could have pulled." He muttered as the runner stepped aside and tried not to stare. "It's like she doesn't even think! Take away the new organic's wings. I should clip hers altogether! She's worse than those darn twins-"

Aria just shook her head and grinned as he stomped out of earshot.

"Same old Ratchet." She murmured as she started down the hall again, heading down to where they kept the brig. It was probably leaning towards overkill, putting Nathanial down here, since the brig had originally been meant for mechs, of course.

Well, if you wanted to get _really_ technical, it had very originally been meant for storage, but then it had been too easy for _someone_ to get out of, so they had modified it a little to fulfill its second original use; a holding cell for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker after they had upset Ratchet by giving him two wrenches that, quite literally, had their names on them.

Now it was also apparently where they kept the organic 'maybe-maybe-not' prisoners.

It wasn't very kind, but Aria could just picture Nathanial sitting there, behind overly large bars that Aria thought were made of lasers (but of course were much more complex than that), holding very still as he looked around him nervously and wondered what was going to happen next.

Aria bit at her lower lip to keep from smiling at the mental image, but a tiny little grin got through anyway.

_"Not all humans are cut out for this sort of thing after all."_ She thought to herself, feeling overly proud as she started down the last stretch of hallway. _"And even the ones that are need some time to get used to the idea that everything they knew about the world around them is wro-"_

She stopped cold as she stepped around the last corner. If she had lived a hundred and forty two more vorns she never would have expected to see what she currently did.

Inside the brig, Nathanial _was_ sitting in the cell usually reserved for Sunstreaker (since Sideswipe was currently in the other one), and he _was_ looking all around him from behind the overly large, laser-like bars. However he was _not_ looking around nervously at the three mechs surrounding him. In fact, he wasn't even looking nervous at all.

Instead, they were all laughing.

_Laughing._

And at something _Nathanial_ had said.

"When," Nathanial finally managed to say through his laughter as Aria stood shocked in the doorway, "when we finally found him again, the suit had climbed the tallest tree around and would not come down for anything. He just kept screaming about the demon cat coming to eat him and-" he snickered again, "and then he threw one of his shiny shoes at my partner Rifkin."

"Did he hit him?" A mech named Warpath asked. He was sitting against the near wall, a desk with a couple of datapads on it sitting in front of him. He must have drawn the short straw on the duty roster this time because he was down here watching Sideswipe and, apparently, Nathanial. Mirage was standing next to the table as he watched and listened to the organic mech's story.

Nathanial was laughing too hard to speak now, so he shook his head instead. "He-" there was more laughter, "he hit a tree-rat instead."

Sideswipe and Warpath burst into more gales of laughter. Mirage cracked a smile, but didn't actually laugh. Even now, after living so long with a bunch of rough and tumble mechs, he was still highly reserved.

Aria just stood in the open door, dumbfounded._ "What in the world are they laughing at?"_

"So you actually drove him _insane_ then?" Sideswipe asked from the next cell over.

Nathanial's laughter calmed into a few left over chuckles. "A lot of people would argue that he was already insane before that." He pointed out. "Although it may have helped that once he _did_ get out of the tree-"

"How'd you get him down?" Warpath asked.

"He fell." Nathanial told him, grinning. "Anyway, once the office twit got out of the tree, he immediately resigned."

"Only resigned?" Mirage asked, collected, but still curious.

"Well I think his exact words were 'I'm never coming back here until God smites you all.' We figured that it was close enough. The last I heard, he was living with his parents again and making nursery mobiles out of spoons."

The three of them started laughing again, but Aria didn't understand why. So some guy had cracked and was making baby toys out of cutlery. So what? It wasn't all that funny.

She was going to say as much, but Nathanial spotted her where she was still standing in the shadowed door way. He hopped down off of the bench he had climbed up onto, smiling at her. "Hello Aria, I take it you're here to bail me out?" He asked, sounding fairly neutral about the whole thing, as if he really didn't care one way or another if they let him out at all.

Aria looked around at the other three mechs now staring at her. "Uh, yeah, pretty much." She said, coming farther into the room. She stood there a moment, arms crossed somewhat defensively over her chest as she inspected the toe of her left shoe thoughtfully. "So, uh, what'cha guys doing down here?"

Sideswipe shrugged from where he was leaning against the cell wall. "Nothing much," he said.

"Just swappin' stories." Warpath elaborated.

No one bothered to tell her what those stories were exactly.

"Right, well," Aria said feeling nervous as the mechs all stared at anything but her. Nathanial didn't try to avoid her though. Instead he just smiled, seemingly genuinely pleased to see her. "I just came to get him so…" she couldn't think of anything else to say.

Warpath climbed to his feet. "Right, right, of course," he said, disengaging the bars on Nathanial's cell.

The human stepped out as jauntily as if he had just come from the park. "Thanks Warpath."

Warpath casually waved a hand at him. "Sure thing. See you around Nat. Now, uh, you said Prowl wanted Sideswipe here where again Mirage?"

Aria watched, still floored, as the human man returned the slight wave before nodding once at Sideswipe. He was still grinning as he jogged over to where Aria was standing.

"So we meet again." He said, quite happy. "I hope I didn't get you into too much trouble with your friend."

Aria just stared at him. Her brain was still stalling. She didn't know what to think, much less _say_.

"No," she eventually heard herself say, "no trouble at all. They've just confiscated your horse for the time being."

Now Nathanial looked worried. "Confiscated?" He asked just to make sure he had heard her right. "Do I still get to see Peg? Who's looking after her?" He asked worriedly.

"You are," Aria said, "it's just that now Ratchet's in charge of where she goes and things like that. I don't expect she'll see a window for a long while."

Nathanial relaxed. "Ah, good." He rethought that statement and grinned. "Well, Peg won't think it's good, and generally an unhappy Peg equals an unhappy me, but she'll live. Do you mind if I see her now? I never got the chance to remove her tackle earlier." He told her.

Aria nodded slowly. "Sure, I guess." She said, and then just as slowly turned around and pointed out the door with a finger. "It's this way."

Nathanial was smiling again, quite disarming, as he gave a polite little nod of his head and gestured toward the door with a gentlemanly wave. "Lead on then." He practically chirped.

Aria eyed him again, now at a total loss about what to think of him. "Uh-huh…"

They started walking down the hallway, side by side, away from the brig. Every so often, Aria glanced at Nathanial next to her and wondered how she should feel about him now.

_"He's just so confusing,"_ she thought as they walked, _"I mean, first it's easy enough. He sees me without my clothes; I have the very strong urge to hog-tie him. But then he goes on to apologize and try and make it up to me by riding his horse-er Equines thing. That counts for something, doesn't it?"_

Nathanial finally caught her peeking at him from under her eyelashes. He smiled at her politely and gave a little nod, although at what Aria wasn't sure. She felt her face start to burn and looked away instead.

_"Gah!"_ She shouted inside her head. _"He's so dang charming! I just want to believe everything he says. Is that a good thing? Or is he just trying to trick me?"_ She sighed. _"I don't know. I can't tell anymore. I've been away from humans for too long. And quite frankly I'm tired of being suspicious all the time. It's exhausting."_ She mentally whined to herself.

Her mind quickly went back to the conversation with the mechs she had interrupted a moment ago. _"He makes it look so easy."_ She internally pouted. _"I mean, it took me years to get to know everybody, and years more for them to get used to me. And suddenly he just shows up and everybody loves him!"_ She remembered how Ratchet now wanted to put Nathanial in cryo so he wouldn't jump with her out of anymore twelfth story windows. _"Well, either that or they hate him."_ She amended. _"But still! It's like he doesn't have to worry about any of this. He already knows what the bots are. He already knows where he is. Heck," _she snorted,_ "he already knows their mythological heroes! And I'm only getting in the way…"_

Her long grown feeling of uselessness crept up on her again. What was she to them? Their friend and ally? Or just some little thing that needed to be kept indoors so she wouldn't hurt herself?

Aria put a hand to her chest and quickly shook herself. _"Stop it,"_ she ordered as she felt the warmth of her makeshift spark-heart under her skin, _"just stop it. You're not helping anything by throwing yourself a pity party. It's not going to be this way forever."_ She scolded herself.

Aria snuck another glance at the silent man next to her. Things were already starting to change it seemed.

_"Maybe I should give him a chance."_ She thought carefully as she watched him look around with interest at the plain corridor around them. _"Maybe I had him pegged completely wrong with that first meeting."_ She hoped she had anyway. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life with a peeping tom.

She felt her face turn neon red as the small part of her mind that had been permanently possessed by her romantic-loving-little-sister realized that there were at least two ways that could be interpreted.

_"That didn't come out right."_ She thought quickly. Then she gave herself a little shake to get away from those kinds of thoughts. _"It's just that if I'm going to be stuck with only one other human for the next hundred vorns or so I certainly don't want him to be a creeper!"_ She thought indignantly.

She relaxed again as they walked a little farther. Almost without thought, her eyes slid over to look at him again._ "He's not that bad to look at."_ She conceded, but only to herself, _"in fact, he's kinda cute."_

Aria suddenly hung her head. _"Oh lord what am I talking about? We're in the middle of a freaking world war! I can't start staring at the new guy just because he happens to be the same _species_ as I am for once!"_ She sighed again, this time with a little groaning mixed in. _"Ratchet and Prowl are putting stupid ideas into my head."_ She grumbled.

But still, she wasn't about to miss her chance to reconnect with the first real _person_ she had seen in over a hundred vorns just because she was suddenly afraid of getting too attached. Besides, she couldn't just cling to the bots forever, right? She'd have to spend time with another human eventually.

_"So why not him?"_

Aria looked over at him cautiously, consciously deciding to at least try and be nice to him. "You okay?" She asked him.

Nathanial turned and smiled politely at her. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

Aria made sure to give him a look that clearly said he was crazy. "How about because you just got out of an alien jail cell?" She pointed out.

Nathanial shrugged as if it hadn't been any big deal. "It wasn't so bad. It just goes to show that when you decide to take a lady for a ride, you should always make sure her chaperone understands that it involves an altitude of a couple thousand feet or so." He answered with a grin to show he was playing with her.

Aria just rolled her eyes at him. She was still a little peeved he hadn't told that to her in the first place.

They walked a few more minutes in thoughtful silence.

"Alright I give," Aria suddenly burst out, "I don't get it."

"Don't get what?" Nathanial asked, not quite understanding the statement. Was he supposed to give her something now? That seemed strange, even for his present circumstances.

"Why aren't you angry?" Aria demanded, turning to face him head on, "Or offended or affronted or," she tried to think of another word and failed, "or _anything_. Why are you so_ calm_?" She asked him, the urge that she just had to know suddenly clawing at her.

Nathanial watched her levelly. Even now he didn't look angry, just slightly inquisitive. "Well, even if for some strange reason I was angry – and I'm not sure why I should be – who should I be angry at for my getting trapped here? The Cybertronians? God? You?" He asked, a little frustration entering his voice. Why did she _want_ him to be angry at anybody in the first place?

Aria glared at him. "Yes." She said in a harder voice. "So why aren't you? I'd be mad at me if I was in your shoes. Being watched and mistrusted all the time. Why are you so dang _nice_ to me?" She demanded. "It just doesn't make any sense!"

Nathanial immediately relaxed. "Oh, I see," he said, returning to his previous state of calm (not that that helped Aria any).

"See what?" She asked loudly, stopping in the middle of the hallway.

Nathanial stopped a step in front of her and turned to look over at the frustrated woman. It still took him by surprise sometimes; just how much was different between the societies they had grown up in.

"They like you." He told her simply, gesturing back the way they had come where Mirage and Warpath were probably still sorting Sideswipe out in the brig. "All of them, or at least, all of the ones I've met. And to be honest I think it would take me an eon to find one that doesn't."

Aria frowned at him. "So? You don't even know them."

Nathanial smiled. "True," he told her, grinning crookedly, "but they are the descendents of a great hero on Atala," he told her, absentmindedly rubbing at the tether stone in the back of his neck that linked him to Peg, "so their good opinion of you is good enough for me." He said. Then, just for the icing on the cake, he winked at her.

Aria's mouth dropped open and she made sure to whack him on the arm when she walked past, like she had done to her best friend Margaret from high school whenever she purposefully said or did something stupid just to annoy Aria.

"Brat," she mumbled as she walked past. Nathanial just grinned as he caught up with her. That's what Miriam had used to call him when they were younger and he told her she was acting too much like a stuffy grown up.

Aria's frustration evaporated shortly after. She supposed it did make a certain amount of sense. For the hundredth time since they started walking together, Aria eyed Nathanial uncertainly. "Sooo," she finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had sprung up between them, "how'd you get this office twit up in the tree anyway?" She asked, trying to hide her self consciousness.

Nathanial grinned over at her, apparently pleased she had asked. "We may or may not have put a wild jungle cat in his office." He admitted, a little too proudly.

Aria suddenly stopped. Nathanial went on a few more steps before he realized she wasn't with him anymore. He looked back to see Aria staring at him, eyes wide and her mouth hanging open in complete surprise.

And then to his great delight, she started to laugh.

...

_Aria's Data-Diary: Stellar Temporem – 682.7 Light-years (A surprisingly compact number for such a large amount of time)_

_So Nathanial is growing on me, I will admit it. Of course, with an introduction like ours, it would have been hard for my opinion of him to sink. n_n;_

_Anyway, he's been here about a week now, and apart from that whole 'flying-off-into-the-sunset' instance, Ratchet hasn't found any new reasons to freeze him yet, so that's good. Ironhide probably wouldn't have been as forgiving now that I think about it, but he's not in the city at the moment, so there._

_We haven't heard anything from him, 'Bee, and Wheeljack yet, but Optimus says that right now 'no news is good news'. I'm not sure if I believe him with them off wandering around Crystal City and all – which is practically becoming the land of the undead as far as I've seen – but what can I do? Make them call me? Yeah right._

_And then there's Optimus himself. *Sigh* I haven't talked to him since that incident down in the sublevels. To be honest I'm not sure if I'm supposed to, or even if I really want to. I've noticed that for awhile now he's been pulling back from me. Well, from all of us really, but it still really hurts me. I haven't said anything because, well, what am I supposed to say? 'Hey Optimus, why are you ignoring me?' Pfft, can I even **sound **more clingy?_

_And then, who am **I** to tell him anything? I'm just the girl that accidentally wandered into their lives. I mean, sure, I'm their friend, and I really do think of them as family, but friends and family argue sometimes. They don't always feel close. If I remember right C. S. Lewis called it the Law of Undulation, or something like that. Gah, how I miss his books. I swear if I could have anything from Earth (people not included) it would be every single thing that man has ever written._

_But Law of Undulation or not – friends or not – it's not like I can go around just blabbing everything I think and feel to Optimus. I mean, he's Optimus **Prime** for heaven's sake. He's **busy**. I miss talking to him of course, but what can I do?_

_Seriously, if you ever figure out what I can do, tell me. Cuz I sure don't know…_

_The sad part (alright, the even **sadder **part) is that even now, after all the work and the fighting and the hardships, we're still not winning. We're not losing, but we're certainly not winning either. It's like it's all they can do to stay even with the Decepticons. Megatron's got more soldiers, more resources, and his mad scientist Shockwave isn't weighed down by those troublesome morals to keep him from discovering new ways to fight._

_I still believe we'll win, don't get me wrong. In fact, I **know** we will. Call it my woman's intuition or maybe just reading too many story books as a kid, but you still can't make me think that the Autobots will lose. In the end, Good vs. Evil is still Good vs. Evil, and Evil just won't be allowed to rule over anything. It may take a few battles, but it won't win the war. It never will. It **can't**._

_It's just that some days it's harder to remember that than others._

_…_

_...on the bright side I guess, things _are _looking up with Nathanial. He's been trying to explain his Atlantian vocabulary to me. (Atlantis! He's really from Atlantis! Ha! It gets me every time!) It's been slow going on my part, but I think I confuse him just as much with Earth's culture too, so we're even. You should have seen the look on his face when I tried to explain a swimsuit to him. Ha! That was great!_

_And anyway, now that there's two of us watching him and Peg, I don't feel the need to lock the man up in a box so that he doesn't go anywhere he's not supposed to, so that's good too. I don't really want to lock him up anymore. Peg's grown on me too some, especially since she no longer wants to stomp me flat into the ground. I'm **really** grateful for that part._


	7. Chapter 7: Getting to Know You

Wow, another week already. I can't tell if it felt too long or too quick. Oh well. Nice long chapter this week, so hopefully you like it and it doesn't drag anywhere. n_n; Uh...I guess I don't have that much to say except possibly that I'm not to sure of the title chapter and of course thank you to my reviewers TheDarkTulip, cascadenight, Autobot-Bre, Vivian Hale, Mercedes Wolfcry, AnimeVamp1997, Plagueblood90, and Ishgirl. Thank you thank you thank you.

So, uh, leave a review if like and please, enjoy the new chapter. ;)

...

The Long Road Home

7 – Getting to Know You – 7

It was a few days after Aria had pulled him out of the brig before Nathanial finally got to meet the mech that was now helping Aria oversee him. He had found it rather odd that they hadn't met face to face yet. But then, when he had first asked about the mech, Aria hadn't even known who she was working with. Presumably she did now, however Nathanial hadn't bothered to re-ask the question. They're time together had recently been taken up learning more about each other and the worlds they had come from. All in all it was much more pleasant than before.

Nathanial smiled thinking about the strange woman he had been spending most of his time with. She wasn't here now since it was late. The only reason Nathanial was up at all was because he hadn't been allowed near Peg earlier and she still needed to be brushed down before trying to sleep.

_"He's back."_

Nathanial looked up at Peg's thought. He nodded at her to let her know he had heard. "I know girl," he said, going back to inspecting her hooves.

He leaned over, lifting her leg to get a better look at the bottom of Peg's front left hoof. But his eyes flashed quickly around the room they were in. It was one of the medical bay storage areas and, like Aria had guessed, it had no windows and only the one door. It was as big as an underground cavern to him, but to the Cybertronians it was rather small.

It was also empty. No one was there that Nathanial could see, but he trusted Peg's instincts far better than his own.

The subtle sound of someone shifting their weight reached Nathanial's ears. The man put down his mount's foot and went over to the saddle bag that held Peg's travel brush and hoof pick. He picked up the latter, feigning disinterest in his surroundings. And then before he could give his intent away, he hurled the tool in the general direction of the sound.

His aim proved true. There was a clang as the hoof pick struck something that didn't appear to be there.

There was silence a moment as Nathanial crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the empty space where the makeshift projectile had abruptly stopped. "Well come on. I already know you're there." He told his watcher levelly as he glared at his general direction.

There was stillness a moment longer, but then a vertical line of color appeared in the empty air. Then it separated like a stage curtain, revealing a mech Nathanial only half recognized.

"Was that really necessary?" The stranger asked, kicking the hoof pick back over across the floor.

It skidded to a stop a few feet in front of Nathanial's boots. He grinned somewhat tightly as he went and picked it up. "Was it all that necessary to spy on me?" He asked back.

The mech cocked his head back, watching the human with mostly one optic. "Just trying to figure you out." He told him.

Nathanial nodded. "Ah," he said. He had expected as much. Know thy enemy and all that. And what better way to do that then watch when they thought no one was looking?

_"Of course I've been ordered under watch every moment of the day so it would be mighty suspicious if someone _wasn't _around."_ He thought. _"It's quite surprising they didn't think of that sooner."_

Peg heard him and nodded her large head sleepily, half opening her eyes as she did. _"For Masters they don't think very much."_ She mumbled.

_"Peg," _Nathanial silently admonished the rather blunt creature. Then seeing the narrowed optics of his watcher, Nathanial turned and threw the hoof pick back in the saddle bag before picking up the curry brush.

"You're that mech from the other day aren't you? You came to get Sideswipe out of detention." Nathanial said, finally placing the blue and white mech in his memory.

The only answer he got was a curt nod.

For a moment the only sound was the curry brush scratching against Peg's neck and her sleepy, blissful whuffle.

"What was he in there for anyway? He never did get around to telling me." Nathanial asked after a moment. "Although he did seem awfully proud of whatever it was." He commented, going for offhand. From their brief interaction, Nathanial had seen more of the loose cannon in the silver mech then he generally felt comfortable with. What he really wanted to know was if this man-er, mech, was the kind that easily snapped.

For a minute it looked like the mech watching him wasn't going to answer. But then the stranger gave a somewhat aggravated huff of air. "I don't know what possessed him to do this, but Sideswipe seems to have taken it upon himself to single handedly," he sneered, "'cheer us up'."

Nathanial looked over at the still unnamed mech over Peg's back, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. "I take it he's not very good at it."

The gray mech planted a hand on one hip and rolled his optics. "He single handedly started a prank war instead. This morning he got caught painting some kind of organic facial feature on Ratchet's upper lip while the old medic was in recharge."

Nathanial paused in his work. "A sort of curly-cue thing? Like this?" He traced a finger in the air.

The mech narrowed his optics at him further. "Yes." He admitted slowly.

Nathanial chuckled and shook his head as he returned his attention to Peg's back. "A thousand planets away and mustaches are still in fashion. Why am I surprised?" He mumbled to himself.

Neither spoke for another long moment. The mech watched Nathanial with the persistency of a hawk. Nathanial pretended he didn't notice as he brushed down Peg. Peg just ignored them both.

"There ya go girl," Nathanial said a little later as he threw the curry brush back towards the saddlebags before patting Peg's neck, "all done."

Peg shook her long head and shifted her weight. Then she relaxed and, to all appearances, went right to sleep.

"So," Nathanial said quietly as he went and sat on the edge of the counter Peg was tethered on. His legs hung over the edge to dangle in empty space, but heights did little to scare him since he and Peg had been together for so long.

"So what?" The mech said sharply when he realized that Nathanial was waiting for him to say something.

Nathanial didn't let the bot's irritation bother him. "Well you never introduced yourself. I know it's not considered acceptable to just go around giving your name out to strangers, but I thought this might be extenuating circumstances." He pulled what looked like an orange-brown stick out of his pocket and took a bite of it. It snapped loudly when it broke. "I assumed you had already been told my name, but then I could be wrong. I'm Nathanial Hawthorne of Aracia." He said, holding out his hand, but then dropped it when he realized that a handshake would be practically impossible.

The mech eyed him another klik, clearly unhappy with this new development. But then, Nathanial had yet to see him 'happy' with anything, so perhaps this was how he usually looked at things.

"Mirage," he said eventually.

Nathanial nodded slowly as he took another bite of the stick. "I guess that would explain the, uh…" he stumbled, not sure what to call the reappearing act he had witnessed earlier.

For the first time since he had shown himself, Mirage smiled, although it was a hard expression. "Yes, I suppose it would."

Nathanial chewed a moment, keeping his mouth closed. "You came from a higher caste than the rest of them didn't you?" He asked when he was done. The state of Cybertron before the war had of course made it into his discussions with Aria.

Mirage looked surprised. Then his face took on his normal look of suspicion. "And what makes you say that?"

Nathanial resisted the urge to grin, thinking Mirage would not take it kindly. "Aria must have had quite the influence on all of you. You're the only one I've met so far that hasn't said 'yeah'."

Mirage thought about this then realized Nathanial had a point. "Most of the Autobots came from the lower to middle castes." He stated.

Nathanial swallowed down another bite of his late dinner. "And you?"

Mirage straightened unconsciously. "No, my family was one of the more prominent." He didn't say anything more.

Nathanial decided not to ask why Mirage was the first mech he had heard use the word 'family', and instead logged the information away.

"So," he said, thinking of how to change the subject to something more open, "how is this whole 'watching me like I might snap at any moment' thing going to work? Are you following the same rules as Aria then?"

Mirage wasn't sure if this track of conversation was any better than the last so he kept to the short answer of, "No."

Nathanial felt his eyebrows furrow slightly. He would have liked to hear how exactly they were different, but decided not to press his luck. Mirage didn't _have _to talk with him after all. "So I take it you actually have permission to shoot me then if I step out of line?"

What might have been a slight grin pulled at the edge of Mirage's faceplates. "Possibly." He said, but his voice took on a slightly more upbeat air to it, so Nathanial felt safe in assuming the real answer was 'yes'.

_ "That's becoming a very big problem around here it seems,"_ he thought unhappily, _"mechs wanting to shoot me."_

But he didn't want to know what kind of reaction he'd get from Mirage if he said that out loud, so instead he settled for, "Is there anything you will talk about then?", as he finished off what passed for his dinner.

"Why?" Mirage asked, keeping to his single word questions and answers.

Nathanial shrugged. "Nexus Prime was a sort of heroic bedtime story where I grew up. I spent most of my life daydreaming about what he – and others like him – was really like and this is the first real chance I've had to talk to one of you on a somewhat normal basis. It's not that I don't like Aria, but there's so much I'd like to know that she's never even thought of." Nathanial said, his excitement showing more now as he scooted still closer to the edge of the shelf.

"Like?" Mirage pressed, slightly leery of the human's reaction. Prowl had warned him that this 'man' knew more about them than Aria had when she had first appeared, but it was still unsettling to be around a creature that knew more about your own myths than you did.

"Well," Nathanial said, fidgeting excitedly again. He was using his hands to talk now too. "Like the dark energy. Near the end of the story," Nathanial started, and then sensing Mirage's next question he explained, "Nexus Prime is about to face off against Liege Maximo southeast of Koror, but Maximo, seeing the Equines Nexus made to help us humans fight the dust devils, makes the Karkadanns. They just sort of spring up out of the ground because of some dark energy Liege Maximo brought with him. I was wondering if you knew what it was." Nathanial asked again.

Mirage shrugged one shoulder, feigning indifference. "No one even knows what happened to Maximo or Nexus Prime after they left Cybertron. So no, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nathanial looked slightly disappointed, but quickly brushed it off. It had sort of been a long shot anyway.

But then to his surprise, Mirage turned to him a moment later and asked, "So what do your stories say happened to Nexus Prime?"

Nathanial looked up at the mech, taken aback slightly. "Well," he said once he had thought on the question a moment, "the two of them fought of course, but near the end, when everyone realized that Nexus was winning, Liege Maximo escaped back into space. Shortly after, Nexus followed him. No one has seen either one of them since." He gave a somewhat shamed snort of laughter. "Most of the people where I live don't even believe the stories are true anymore." He added.

Mirage nodded, glancing over Nathanial's parting sentence. "That sounds like the stories we have as well. Maximo was powerful – all the Thirteen were – but Nexus was more adaptable. Unfortunately, Liege Maximo was also obscenely practical. He wasn't above retreating if he thought the chance of winning could be found later."

"Those who fight and run away…" Nathanial left the old adage hanging.

Mirage nodded. "Something like that, yes."

Nathanial turned slightly when Peg shifted behind him. _"You are both too loud."_ She told him sleepily as she lazily blinked an unfocused eye at him.

Nathanial smiled at her. "Sorry Peg." He mumbled, gently patting her neck. She whickered lightly in her half-sleep as Nathanial stood and brushed himself off. Mirage watched, curious, as the man went and picked up his creature's saddle. He hefted the large leather piece and set it down closer to Peg. Then with a tired sigh, he lay down on his back, leaning his head against the saddle, making sure to adjust a hat he had brought out of his saddle bags so that it covered his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Mirage finally asked.

Nathanial peeked out from under the hat's bill. "Going to sleep. What's it look like I'm doing?" Then he frowned over at the mech and sat up on his elbows so he could face him better. "Say, you're not going to just stand there and watch me all night, are you?" He asked, sounding a little creeped out by the idea.

"I wasn't planning on it." Mirage told him. He _had_ been planning on handing Nathanial off to Aria for the night watch, but that would be rather hard if he insisted on sleeping in the storage room. "I meant why are you sleeping out here? Aria has more than enough room in that house of hers." He pointed out.

Nathanial's mouth twitched up at one corner. "Ah, yes, well," he said as he relaxed against the saddle again and adjusted his impromptu blindfold, "she did, eh, _offer _me a spot on her porch that first night," not very kindly, but she _had_ given him sheets even if she had thrown them at his head and told him that if he went upstairs she would tie him up with them, "but I thought it best to find somewhere else to rest my head. I don't know how familiar you are with human women-"

"Not very."

"-but it's not in your best self interest to upset one to the extreme I did and then stay under the same roof with her, especially when you don't know each other very well. Not to mention that it is very improper." He added, thinking of what his sister would say if she ever heard about this. Generally, he no longer cared about 'proper' or not – call it rebelling against his mother, call it practical because proper only tended to get in the way when you were tracking down demons – but Miriam's (not to mention Aria's) wrath was more than enough to scare him into being good, even if his only sister was still back home. Hers was one of the few opinions he still cared about.

A sadness he had long been fighting off rose up in Nathanial's chest. He wondered what his commanding officer had told Miriam when he had disappeared. His brothers, he was sure, would handle the news somehow, but he worried about Miriam most.

_"My choices are probably either desertion or dead and I'm not sure which is worse."_ He thought, feeling glad that his uniform cap hid his face. This was no one else's business as it was.

In front of him, Mirage made a thoughtful, slightly cross sound. "Fine, but don't try leaving this room before morning. Someone will come let you out by then."

Nathanial waved a hand to show that he understood.

Mirage eyed him again, and then repeated his displeased noise before turning and walking out the door. Nathanial heard the lock engage quite clearly.

_"Well that went rather well." _Peg mumbled a moment later through something like a yawn.

Nathanial just grunted as he settled in deeper, trying to get comfortable against the stiff leather of his saddle and the hard surface of the table. Next to him, Peg just fell back into her dreamless rest.

Nathanial envied her as he tried once again to close the door in his mind against the memories of his early life. But he was too tired, and soon, half remembered visions of his younger sister and the rest of his family poured out the door and invaded what little sleep he got.

...

"Good Lord," Aria said the next morning when she opened to door to the storage room to find Nathanial standing on the other side, ready to get out of the dark room, "you look terrible."

Nathanial glanced up at her, dark eyes half shut against the sudden light that poured in from the med bay. "Thanks." He muttered. "Nice to see you too."

Aria made an apologetic face at him. "Sorry, it's just, uh," she trailed off. 'It's just true' didn't seem like the kind of thing she should say right now, so she quickly switched topics. "It's just I think I've finally got all your Atlantian vocab figured out." She said instead.

Nathanial nodded wearily as he followed Aria out of the storage room and through the med bay. "That's nice." He mumbled, dragging himself more towards wakefulness as he moved.

"Now let me see if I got this straight," Aria said as she and Nathanial exited the medical wing and began walking down one of the Hall of Records' numerous hallways, "Aracia is the planet." She said somewhat hesitantly to the tired man walking next to her.

Nathanial nodded once. "Yes."

"And the island is called the lemuria."

He nodded again.

"But the country itself is Atala."

Another nod.

"And the country of Atala rests on the lemuria."

Another nod.

"And part of the reason you have so many names for just _one _thing is because the lemuria has only rested on the planet Aracia for the last few hundred years."

"Vorns." Nathanial corrected her almost automatically. "For the longer definitions of time we adopted the Cybertronian terms. Otherwise we still use 'hours' and 'minutes' and the other, more human, terms."

Aria nodded, her brown eyebrows drawing closer together as she absorbed this new information. "Right, okay, eventually you're going to have to give me a concrete definition of 'vorn', because I've never quite understood their time words." She threw him a self depreciating smile. "Anyway, your country, Atala, has only been on the planet, Aracia, for a few hundred vorns because the lemuria is actually a special island that flies around to different planets as your kind sees fit."

Nathanial shrugged one shoulder, beginning to feel more like his normal self. "Well, really it's the senate that decides when to move the lemuria to a different planet, but it's been so long since we've flown that I've never seen the thing move. My oldest brother can hardly remember our trip to Aracia in the first place, he was so young then."

Aria nodded, listening. "But pretty much the lemuria is a floating island?"

Nathanial thought about that briefly. "Yes, pretty much."

"And somehow," Aria continued, idly gesturing with one finger as she stared up at the ceiling above them, "the people of Earth transformed _one_ of those words into Atlantis."

"I suppose so." Nathanial said. "I wasn't exactly born yet when all of that happened." He told her with a half formed grin.

"Right," Aria said. Then she started smiling as she laced her hands behind her head. "Still, it's kind of cool. And here I thought Atlantis was just a story."

"I know the feeling," Nathanial muttered as one mech heading the other direction passed them by. Aria hardly seemed to notice.

"So what's it like?" Aria suddenly asked a second later.

Nathanial looked over at her, brown eyes going a tad wide in confusion. "What's what like?"

Aria rolled her eyes at him and gave him a smile that clearly said he was being a dunce. "Atlantis of course! Come on, don't hold out on me. Tell me what it's like!" She pleaded playfully.

Nathanial blinked. He had never really given his homeland much thought since it was really all he had ever known. "Well, the city is very, ah, structured, and the country side is very, eh, _green_ and, well, it's all kind of crowded and, um…"

But Aria only rolled her eyes again. "Oh come on, you can do better then that. What's it look like? What's it _feel_ like?" She asked.

Nathanial could only stare at her in mild confusion. "I'm not quite sure what you mean," he admitted.

"Well," Aria said, falling deeper into thought, "like what do the buildings look like? Ancient? With lots of columns towering up from marble steps, and images of Greek heroes and great kings and queens carved into them? Are there pools and things? And lots of strange colored fish that flicker under water? Are there hanging gardens? Or statues or stories or-"

Nathanial finally burst into laughter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he eventually managed to say when he caught Aria's offended pout. "It's just, you've put a lot of thought into this haven't you?"

Aria hunched back slightly, and gave him a sulky glare. "Maybe," she muttered. She hadn't thought any of that had been that far out of the realm of possibility. They already had talking horse-things. Why not columns and pillars and fish that she figured _must_ have been there when they left Earth in the first place?

Nathanial just smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that's not how it is at all. At least, not anymore. Most of the columns and old buildings crumbled when my great-grandfather's generation first left Earth."

"Why?" Aria asked, some of her sulkiness leaving her as her curiosity took over again.

"Well getting the Lemuria into the air turned out to be more…traumatic then anyone had expected."

Aria looked over at the man walking next to her, drinking in the details. "Okay, that makes sense. So what's it look like now then?"

Nathanial shrugged one shoulder as he walked with his hands clasped behind his back. "Like any other city I suppose. There are buildings, made of wood and stone, and most of the houses in the capitol where I grew up are similar to your house here. Tall and narrow with at least two floors. Most of the architectural wonders like hanging gardens and statues were destroyed when we left the Earth. Truly there isn't much to tell." He told her.

"Oh," Aria said. _"Well that's disappointing." _She thought. "Isn't there _anything_ worth while there?"

From the look on his face it was clear to her that Nathanial didn't think so. "Not in the city. Not really."

Aria frowned slightly as she remembered something. "But I thought you said your family lived there?" She pointed out.

Aria caught him flinch out of the corner of her eye. "Yes…" he said slowly, "my immediate family at any rate. My two elder brothers, Thomas and Morgan, already have wives and children so they have plenty to occupy themselves with. My younger sister though, is still at home. Miriam generally keeps to herself, or spends time watching our multitude of nieces."

Aria grinned as the image of ten hundred little girls suddenly glomping Nathanial like a tidal wave crossed her mind. "A multitude huh?" She asked him.

Nathanial shrugged again. "Well, seven really, along with one nephew, but he's new, so I don't always remember him yet."

Aria grinned at him. "Poor kid. His uncle doesn't even know he exists."

Nathanial gasped at her, mock indignant. "I do to." He protested. "It's not my fault he's only been around a few days." But then he paused and his gaze drifted to stare unseeingly at the hall in front of them. Aria saw the edges of his grin curdle slightly. "Or at least he was," he added, "last I knew."

Aria nodded vaguely. "You must miss them very much." She mumbled, knowing how it felt to leave your family like that, with no way to reach them, to let them know you were even _alive_.

Nathanial stared ahead of him. "I suppose…" he murmured, "if I miss anything it'd be them, but then, I was never very comfortable in the capitol. I left as soon as I could actually." He told Aria almost absentmindedly. He was still looking ahead of them, but Aria's attention was fixed firmly on him instead. His mouth was tighter then a moment ago and he stared at the empty hallway without seeing it. "It was just after my father died. I had just turned fifteen, thank God. That's the youngest they let you into the military academy. But Miriam was only ten. She cried for days after they buried him, but Mother didn't even notice. She was too busy off being a socialite because she couldn't stand to look at us crying over something nobody could change she said. I couldn't stand it anymore either. So I left."

Aria watched Nathanial as he spoke, somewhat surprised he was just telling her this. She chalked it up to lack of sleep as she looked over at him with worried eyes. She felt sad for him. Mirage had told her about his talk with the man the night before as part of the reports they exchanged every so often to make sure they were on the same page. Of course when she had heard Nathanial was from some well-to-do family she had instantly thought of a Disney princess life with ball gowns and glass slippers. Deceased fathers and neglectful mothers hadn't quite made it into the equation.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

Nathanial started slightly, as if he had forgotten she was even there. "Oh, no, it's not your fault. I-" he stopped, realizing he was about to start babbling. When he spoke again Aria was surprised to hear how contrite he sounded. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what just came over me." He said carefully, his eyes snapping back to focus on the reality in front of him. Aria didn't have to be a mind reader to see he was internally kicking himself for telling her any of that.

She decided not to say anything about it. _"It would probably only make him feel worse."_ She thought.

"And what about you?" Nathanial asked too quickly a moment later, eager to get the attention away from him. "Do you miss your family?"

Aria let the sudden deflection slide and nodded at him as they continued walking down the hall. "Yes, but I'm sure they're doing just fine without me. I dream about them sometimes though." She said with a forced little laugh.

Nathanial gave her an equally forced smile. "Oh? And what do you all do in your dreams?"

Aria smiled at the floor, but her eyes felt kind of prickly. "Just normal stuff really. We'll be at the table eating dinner and talking about our days. Or it'll be Saturday and we're off feeding the ducks at Meyer Park, although the last time we did that I was like, five." She told him with a roll of her eyes.

"In my last one all we did was watch TV," she said a moment later with a laugh that was a little truer then before, "my little sister and I were just sitting on the couch watching a movie after dinner, and Dad was lying nearby reading this one copy of _Moby Dick_ he's had since he was in high school. It's all worn, pages falling out and everything. The spine is bent backwards because he always bends the cover of the book around when he's reading. Mom's just doing the dishes in the kitchen, singing to herself. Sometimes Sera and I look at each other and try not to laugh because she almost always sings off key." She told him with another small laugh. "Talk about a boring dream huh?" She asked him. She could feel her cheeks turn pink as she walked.

Nathanial gave her a sorrow tinged smile. "No," he told her, "it actually sounds rather nice." He told her simply.

They walked in silence after that. Each wrapped up in their own thoughts and memories.

"So," Aria finally broke the silence several minutes later, "did these dust devils you keep talking about follow you from Earth, or are they from Aracia?" She asked as soon as the thought occurred to her.

"Eh," Nathanial started hesitantly as he tried to untangle himself from the past and pay attention to Aria's question, "no one knows for sure where they came from exactly – if they originated on Aracia or if they just came there before we did. Either way they don't want to leave. And they sabotaged the lemuria's launching mechanisms so we can't leave either, even if we wanted to. They're a parasitic race that thrives by," he paused grimly, "I guess you could say that they just suck the life out of everything they touch."

"That's why they live in the desert," Aria suddenly said, realizing something, "because they've already pulled all the life out of it." She turned to him excitedly to see if she was right.

Nathanial nodded somberly, features turning somewhat stern as he thought on the war that had been fought longer then he'd been alive. "Yes, unfortunately. It's uncertain why, but it takes almost a lifetime for land to recover from a dust devil. And the longer the demons are there, the longer it takes the soil to return to normal. The Golian Desert – that's the wasteland left after the battle between Nexus Prime and Liege Maximo – where they live will probably never recover. They've been there too long."

Aria thought about this. "So what do they look like then? All teeth and claws? Or maybe some kind of vacuum mouth in their hands or something?" She asked, her imagination getting some more exercise.

Nathanial grinned somewhat. "No, no claws, no teeth. And they don't have hands, much less mouths in their palms." He told her, a subdued laughter in his voice. He sobered quickly. "I suppose if they look like anything, it would be shadows."

Aria blinked at him. "Shadows?" That's not what she had expected.

Nathanial nodded. "Yes, they have no bodies, or even shape. They are just masses of darkness that linger too long in one place. They can be incredibly difficult to spot since they can blend in with almost anything. Even your own shadow." He said, pointing down at the dark silhouettes stretched out on the floor that were following them.

Aria eyed her shadow nervously.

"Well then how do they fight you then?" She asked, her voice a little higher than before. She cleared her throat to make it go back to normal. "If they're just a blob?"

Nathanial met her eyes seriously. "They suck the life out of everything they touch." He told her again.

Understanding finally lit up in Aria's eyes. "Oh…" she said slowly as the thought entered her head and made her shiver.

It was a while before either of them spoke again.

"Equines can sense them." Nathanial leaned over a little as he spoke softly several minutes later. "That's why we're so indebted to Nexus Prime for creating them for us."

Aria thought about this and nodded. "I guess that would explain a bit about why you're so willing to listen to them." She said thoughtfully as she gestured to a mech, head buried in data pads, as he crossed the intersection up ahead of them. Then surprisingly enough, she grinned a little at Nathanial before nudging his elbow with hers. "And why you didn't freak out _too_ much when you realized what they were."

Another mech came around the far corner and Aria soon realized she had spoken too soon.

Nathanial gave a strangled gasp when he caught sight of the mech coming towards them. He froze in his tracks, his mind stalling as his heart beat double time. And then with some degree of horror, he realized the mech was coming straight towards them.

It took Aria a few more steps to realize he wasn't with her anymore. "Nathanial?" She asked confused, half turning around to see what was up. "What are you doing? You okay?"

Nathanial couldn't tell if he was okay or not. His brain still couldn't get past the fact that the mech was still _coming towards them_.

So he did the only thing he could think of and hit the floor.

The mech's even gait stuttered slightly when he saw the second human just suddenly throw himself to the ground to press his forehead against the floor. Aria just groaned at Nathanial's sudden bowing and smacked her palm to her face. "Oh man, not again…"

"Hello Aria," the old mech greeted her when he was close enough, "How are you today?" But even then his optics didn't leave Nathanial's suddenly kowtowing form.

"Hey Alpha Trion," Aria said, trying to hide her utter embarrassment, "I'm good. How're you doing?" She asked, hoping to avoid the subject of the man near her feet.

"Eh? Oh, fine, fine, busy," the oldest mech in Iacon said, sounding distracted. He was still staring at Nathanial. "So I take it that this is that new organic mech I heard of the other orbit?"

Aria resisted the urge to say, "Sadly yes," and simply nodded instead.

Alpha Trion's stare became more intent. "I see, I see," he muttered vaguely, "and, ah, what," he started slowly, leaning towards Aria and lowering his voice, as if that could stop Nathanial from hearing him, "what is he doing?"

Aria looked down at the kneeling man and then back up at the curious mech. "I honestly have no idea." She told him, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"Ah," Alpha Trion said again before straightening up. "Well then I suppose I must be on my way. I need to speak with Optimus soon about a few other things-"

"Aria, there you are!" The shout came from down the hall behind them, cutting the old mech off.

Aria turned to see Jazz striding purposefully towards them. She smiled and waved at him before turning back to Alpha Trion. "Well okay Alpha Trion. I'll see you later then."

The old mech nodded. "Yes, and perhaps if you ever find out why your friend is so interested in our floor…" he trailed off as he looked intently down at the human male again.

"You'll definitely be the first to know." Aria said somewhat sourly as she looked down at Nathanial just in time to see him peek up at her. He looked absolutely shocked at her for some reason. Maybe even more than when he had first seen Ironhide crash through the wall.

Alpha Trion was halfway down the hall before Nathanial even dared to lift his head off the ground.

As soon as he was on his feet again, Aria lightly whacked him across the stomach.

Nathanial startled slightly, surprised more than hurt. "What was that for?"

"For you to stop being so _weird_!" Aria hissed at him as she hung her head in her hands. "Oh Lord that was mortifying! What possessed you to even _do_ that? It was just Alpha Trion!" She said as if meeting him in the hallway was a perfectly normal thing to expect.

Nathanial stared at her in what Miriam would have called a most ungentlemanly fashion. Right now though, he couldn't help it. Aria was wondering what had him so worked up. He was wondering how she could be so calm in the presence of one of-

Nathanial's thoughts were cut off by Jazz's approach. "There you are," the mech said again as he stopped next to the two humans and crossed his arms over his chest, "I was hoping to find you before things got started. You should get down to the main floor before the fun really starts."

Aria frowned up at him lightly. "Why? What's up?"

Jazz smirked down at her easily. "Ironhide just reported in with Wheeljack and Bumblebee. They're already approaching the city. Should be here in no time. And they ran into some old friends along the way just in time to chase off a Decepticon party that was causing some hassle."

Aria's frown deepened in confusion. "Friends? What friends? Is everybody alright?"

Jazz nodded. "Yeah, everyone's fine, mostly." His crooked grin grew wider. "And let me put it this way; they checked in a few kliks ago and one of them just would _not_ shut up about you. Nearly talked me to death right then and there." Jazz complained lightly, rubbing his auditory receptors as if to prove his point.

Aria blinked up at him as her mood did a complete 180. Her face lit up like a star when she realized who he was talking about. Then before Nathanial – who had stood there, forgotten and still very confounded while the other two talked – could wonder what was happening, Aria spun around and grabbed his hand.

"Come on!" She pressed urgently as she started dragging him down the hall. "There's some mechs that you've just _got_ to meet!"

Nathanial stumbled as Aria yanked him forward. "W-who?" He managed to ask as they slid around the corner.

Aria laughed excitedly and spun around to grab Nathanial's hand with both of hers to pull him better. "My boys! Who'd you think I meant?" She giggled.

Nathanial stuttered nervously. "Y-you're _what?_" He demanded as he gave up trying to avoid this new doom and let Aria drag him away.

Behind them, Jazz was left to just shake his head at the two. "The new guy's sure in for it now," he muttered with a grin, "just wish I had the time to see how this plays out."


	8. Chapter 8: Big Brothers Do Not Approve

Ahahaha! Early posting due to Spring Breakingness! Exxxcellent! I'm not sure if I'll have internet access (or time) next Tuesday, so here is the eighth chapter early! Hooray! A quick but generous thank you goes out to all of my lovely reviewers. You know who you are and you are amazing! XD I loved all of your reviews last week. They just made my Wednesday wonderful! So thank you! ;DDD

Eh, now I have to go pack, so enjoy the chapter! Oh! And before I forget, bonus points go to those that know what song Cliffjumper ends up singing! *cackles deviously...* I've been looking forward to this chapter just for that one part. I had far too much fun with them this time... *more gleeful cackling...*

^,,^ *Oh brother...* thinks Mrs. Mittens

...

The Long Road Home

8 – Big Brothers Do Not Approve – 8

Aria was practically glowing by the time the two humans made it down to the bottom level, but she couldn't help it. "C-come on!" She said again breathlessly as the door to the main level finally appeared in front of them. "W-we're almost there! Oh my gosh, they're back, they're back, they're _back_!" She giggled excitedly to herself.

Behind her Nathanial just blinked at her. "We're almost _where_ exactly? And who's back?" He asked, sounding a little nervous. He still felt a little shaken from their sudden run in with the mech Aria had called Alpha Trion. That and the sudden images of an angry Ironhide returning did nothing to ease his mind.

But then they reached the main level and Nathanial blinked, forgetting Aria's overprotective friend as they stepped into the largest room he had ever seen. It was well lit and mechs of every size and shape filled the far half of the room. Nathanial also noticed that most of the mechs were still smoking from the recent scrap with the Decepticons he had heard Jazz mention. He also noticed that Ratchet and another mech were single mindedly making their way between the more wounded of the warriors.

"What happened here?" Nathanial murmured, coming to a stop just inside the doorway.

Aria didn't answer him. She was too busy looking around at the different faces gathered at the other end of the room. She finally found who she was looking for before instantly dropping Nathanial's arm and darting off towards the brightest yellow mech Nathanial had ever seen.

"Bumblebee!" She shrieked in total joy as she ran and threw her arms around the yellow mech. "You're really back! Oh I'm so glad to see you again. Now what happened? Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked, only now looking around at the smoking, dented mechs around the hall. "I thought this was a no smoking room?" She tried to tease, but the new strain in her voice was obvious.

"We're alright," Bumblebee told her quickly as he knelt down closer to her. But then he shrugged one shoulder. "Mostly, anyway."

Aria frowned up at him slightly. "That's what Jazz said. What does that even mean? Is everybody okay or aren't they?" She asked him, praying hard that no one had been seriously injured.

Bumblebee didn't get a chance to answer her as another familiar and long missed voice cut in.

"It means that we kicked some Decepticon aft and picked up a few scars to show off on the way."

Aria's eyes went wide and she whirled around with a small gasp. Standing behind her were two mechs, one slightly taller than the other. The taller one was painted a largely brownish-gray color with smoke blackened armor that told her he had no problems being at the front lines. He had a lopsided grin and one arm slung over the other mech's shoulders. The other mech was sturdier even though he wasn't as tall. He was grinning too. He was also very blue.

"Bluestreak! Val!" Aria gaped in surprise. "Wah-what are you guys doing here? I thought the Wreckers were over near the canyons. And Blue', Prowl told me you wouldn't be back for another orn." She asked excitedly as she stepped closer to see how they were.

"Well our plans changed when we found a group of Decepticons that were trying to sneak around the Wreckers' line so they could try and hit the power connection running between here and Kalis." Bluestreak told her before slanting a look at Val, who suddenly looked embarrassed about something. "We _would_ have just commed them and let them deal with it but _somebody_," his optics slid over to give Val an accusing glare, "broke the communication net."

Aria's eyebrows both went up. "You broke the whole net?" She asked in clear disbelief. "How's that even possible?"

"No, no, no, that's not what happened." Val tried to defend himself. "It's just, you know how the datanet is maintained by those terminals? They're those rusted pillars everywhere."

Aria nodded slowly. "Yeah…" she said just as slowly as she wondered where he was going with this.

The ceiling suddenly became very interesting to the younger mech. "Well, we were sparing and, well, I may have…landed on one."

Aria threw a hand over her mouth before more than one snort of laughter could escape.

Val's shoulder's slumped slightly.

"You should have seen it Sparkfinder!" One of the other Wreckers, Topspin, threw an arm around the youngest member of the commando team, making Val shrink even farther. "Leadfoot was trying to teach laddie here how to pull off that special twist he does, ya know, when some stupid 'con's got him in a chokehold, and boyo here," he pounded the shrinking Val on the back, "not only can't get how it's done, but on the last one he ends up flinging _himself_ halfway across the way where he lands on that stupid terminal."

Another laugh escaped Aria's mouth no matter how hard she tried to keep it in.

Topspin grinned as Val shrank again and glowered at the other mech. He looked like he wanted to sink right through the floor.

"Thanks a lot Jie Mei," Val grumbled at her sulkily, "now they're never going to let me hear the end of that stupid story."

Topspin smacked him again on the shoulder. "Ah don't be ridiculous boyo, we would have kept on telling it even if she didn't think it was funny."

Aria couldn't keep it in anymore and busted out laughing at the mech. "Aw, my poor Val, that really stinks." She told him, but she laughed again as she said it, so all she got was a flat look from the mech she had taken care of when he was small and another round of laughter from Topspin, Bumblebee, and Bluestreak.

"Ha, ha, ha." Val laughed sarcastically at the rest of them. "You are all so very funny. What? Haven't you all sailed through the air to land on a data terminal before?"

"No." Bumblebee managed to say through his laughter.

"Ah, knock it off!" Val told them, flinging an arm at them as Topspin walked away, humiliation of Val complete. Val hardly noticed as he flinched and hissed when he moved his hand.

Aria gasped, her laughter disappearing. "Val! What happened to your hand?"

Val cradled his leaking hand against his chest so he wouldn't jostle it again and tried to shrug nonchalantly. He didn't quite succeed. "Oh, ya know, nothing much," he told her nervously.

Aria stared up at him. "Two of your fingers are bent completely backwards." She told him as if he hadn't already noticed.

"Yeah, well…"

"And there's a hole in your hand."

"Right, but-"

"I'm getting Ratchet."

"No! Oh for Primus' sake Jie Mei, it's just a couple of broken circuits. Ratchet's got more to worry about then me." Val insisted.

"Cliffjumper got it pretty bad coming in." Bumblebee told her softly.

Aria looked up at him with wide eyes. "Is he okay?" She asked worriedly.

Val suddenly became very serious. "I think so, but it'll probably take him a while to get back to full strength. The 'con that pinned him down, he" he hook his head as he stared at something that wasn't there, "there was something I didn't like about him. He was vicious. And not in the normal way. It was like – I don't know how to describe it – he had sacrificed all of his higher functions and rewired that leftover energy into his physical strength. It was weird-_oof_."

Bumblebee elbowed Val sharply, cutting him off.

"Hey man, what are doing-" Val started to say.

Bumblebee gave him a look. "Shut up Val," then he nodded down at Aria where she stood on the floor in front of them. She was looking over at the knot of bodies gathered around Ratchet and Cliffjumper.

"Oh," Val said in a subdued voice, "I mean, uh, you know Cliffjumper. Always itching for a fight and trying to take down 'cons twice his size."

"At _least_." Bumblebee added.

"And he usually wins too." Bluestreak said with more than a touch of amazement. "I swear he's got more guns than Ironhide."

Aria still didn't look convinced. "Well, yeah, but are you sure he's going to be okay?"

A loud shout from across the room made all four of them look up. "YOUCH! What are you doing Hatchet? I thought you were supposed to put my leg back on, not finish tearing it off!" Cliffjumper shouted irritably.

"Shaddup." Ratchet growled before turning back to his welder.

Aria felt the nervous tension ease in her chest as all four of them relaxed a little.

"He's gonna be fine." Val said again, sounding surer than before.

"I wonder where he even keeps all those guns." Bluestreak thought out loud. "I mean, I know they're in subspace somewhere but _still_-"

"Hey Aria," Val interrupted Bluestreak. Aria looked over to see him staring with narrowed optics at something near the door.

"Yeah Val, what is it?" She asked turning around to see what he was looking at.

Val jerked his chin toward the small bipedal organic mech standing self consciously near the door. "Who's your shadow? He's been watching us ever since Topspin came over. Someone we should know about?"

Aria stopped when she saw that Val was talking about Nathanial. For some reason the man hadn't moved away from the door where she had left him.

Bumblebee squinted at the other organic. "Hey," he said slowly, "isn't that the mech that saw y-?"

"Yes!" Aria quickly interrupted him. "Yes, that's him. Now never bring that up ever again please." She told him, sounding much too nervous for the others not to notice.

Bluestreak and Val looked over at each other, then at Bumblebee. "Sounds like I'm not the only one with an embarrassing story today. Come on Bumblebee, spill. Who's the new organic?"

Bumblebee opened his mouth, but then quickly shut it again when he caught sight of the glare Aria was giving him.

He looked over at his friends, and then at the organic mech standing near the door. He wanted to tell them what happened if only so they knew to be on guard around him, but he wasn't about to risk Aria's femme wrath either.

"Uh-uh guys, no way. It's not my story to tell anyway." Bumblebee said, waving his arms in front of him to get the other two to back off.

"Ah, come on 'Bee," Val pressed, avoiding the waving arms by going to stand next to the yellow mech, "embarrassing stories can never be told by the person they happened too. Why do you think Topspin came over here?"

"Because he wanted to remind you that you're still a know-it-all brat that doesn't know when to leave well enough alone?" Aria put in crossly.

"No," Val told her, "because that wouldn't have been any fun. Now come on man, tell us what happened. It's about time we had some dirt on Jie Mei anyway, don't ya think?" He asked with a mischievous grin. Bluestreak watched next to them, for once quiet as he waited to hear about whatever mortifying thing that had happened to Aria.

Bumblebee looked down at his sister again. She was scowling even fiercer then before.

He quickly came to the wise decision. "No way guys." He told them again. "You don't tick off femmes that remember cleaning you up when you were a sparkling." He told them again before whispering for their auditory systems alone. "Besides, if you were me, would _you_ want Jie Mei mad at you like that?"

Conceding he had a point, the other mechs immediately backed off.

"Can we still ask who this guy is?" Val asked somewhat sulkily.

"Yeah," Bluestreak jumped in. "I didn't even know there _were _organic mechs. Where'd he come from Aria?" He asked curiously.

Aria cheered up some now that no one was about to hear about how she and Bumblebee had first met Nathanial. "It might be easier if he tries to explain it. Come on, I'll introduce you guys." She said, waving at them to follow her as she walked over to the man by the door.

Halfway there, Aria jogged ahead and grabbed Nathanial's arm again to drag him forward. Not sure what else to do, Nathanial let her.

"Guys, this is Nathanial, an organic mech of my species," she gestured from the three mechs to the human next to her, "Nathanial, this is Bumblebee, Val, and Bluestreak. They're sort of my brothers." She told him with a smile after pointing to each one in turn.

Nathanial looked up at the three mechs standing over him and resisted the urge to gulp nervously.

"Hello," Nathanial eventually remembered how his tongue worked, "it's a pleasure to meet you. Aria's told me quite a bit about all of you." He said, politeness overcompensating for his anxiety.

Bumblebee glowered down at the human male while Val frowned at him, not sure what to make of this new organic. Only Bluestreak looked even marginally approachable.

"Are you from the same place as Aria, human Nathanial?" He asked curiously as he knelt down to get a better look.

Nathanial leaned back slightly, not wanting to get too close to Bluestreak until he was sure if he went into the 'wants to shoot the new man too' category or not. He felt safe in assuming that Bumblebee and Val certainly did.

"Nooo…" Nathanial eventually answered.

Bluestreak's optics glowed brighter for a moment. "Then there's more than one planet that supports humans? Where is it? Is it green? Aria said her planet was largely green and blue. Say, how'd you even get here? Your planet must be close for you to just appear so abruptly like this and all."

"No, not at all," Nathanial said when he thought he would be heard. "I come from Atala, which rests on the planet Aracia. Outside of my country, it's largely a desert planet. And I have no idea how far away it is. I was somehow transported here with Peg."

Bluestreak tilted his head. "What's a peg?"

Nathanial was just thinking that he had his work cut out for him as two mechs passed by. They were supporting a smaller, brick red mech between them who seemed to be more than a little doped.

"If aalll the precipitation was energon and oil cake, oh what a precipitation that would beeeee!" They all heard him singing crazily to himself.

The small group of mechs and organics watched, some open mouthed, as the two larger mechs carted their compatriot away. Nathanial saw that the red mech's feet didn't touch the floor and figured that this was the Cliffjumper he had heard the others mention earlier.

"Wow," Bluestreak mumbled, "who knew he remembered that song, huh?"

Bumblebee and Val nodded. All three of them stared after the mechs as they turned the corner towards the medical wing.

"Ratchet," Aria said in quiet amazement as she turned to the medic in question that had appeared behind the other three, "What did you _do_ to him?"

The old medic looked over at the empty space Cliffjumper and the other two had been a moment before. "What? Oh, I only gave him a, eh, what would you call it Aria? A painkiller I believe is your word for it. Why?"

Aria looked over at the empty corner before turning back to Ratchet. "He's singing reformatted Barney songs!" She said incredulously, pointing after them.

"Really?" Ratchet said. "I hadn't noticed."

Aria couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Now, Val you're coming with me. Hoist should be able to see to your hand while I deal with Cliffjumper." Ratchet ordered mildly as he gave the younger mech a pointed shove towards the door. "Come on, come on, we don't have all orbit. And did you even turn off the feeling in those digits?" He asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.

Val hesitated. "…maybe." He finally answered.

Ratchet made an irritated noise in the back of throat. "The lack of common sense around here is pitiful. I swear it's like I have to do everything myself-"

His mutterings dwindled as he rounded the corner, Val shoved safely before him down the hall. Still standing there, Aria sighed and shook her head, a small smile playing on her face. Then she looked up at Bumblebee and Bluestreak. "Well, do you think we should go save him from his own stupidity or what?" She asked them with a grin.

"Depends, do you think Ratchet's already wrenched him for it yet or not?" Bumblebee put in as he began following the trail Ratchet's grumbling left in his wake.

"I'm sure we can get there in time." Bluestreak said as scooped Aria up without warning, making her shriek and giggle at the same time. "But we might want to hurry, just in case. He's awfully quick with those wrenches for an old mech." He pointed out.

"I guess I wasn't the only one that noticed Ratchet being, uh, Ratchet." Bumblebee said as they receded down the hall.

"Oh come on guys, he's doing much better. Well, apart from the whole doping Cliffjumper thing anyway. I'm sure Val's fine," Aria cut in, smiling happily up at the two mechs. She had missed them so much. She always worried when they left Iacon, afraid they would never come back. Her relief now was knee quaking, although she tried to keep it to herself. "But how are you two? Nothing more then marred paint yeah?" She asked somewhat worriedly.

As Bumblebee and Bluestreak reassured her that they were fine, Nathanial was left standing in the now empty hall, quietly floored. He waited a moment longer to see if any of them remembered he was still there, but they didn't. A moment later, their voices disappeared entirely as the distance between them grew too long for the sound to carry.

Amazed that for the first time since he had arrived in this strange place that he was actually alone, Nathanial stood there, trying to decide what to do. It was probably nothing, but still, what Val had said about the crazed Decepticon kept circling around in his head, unnerving him with its familiarity.

Torn between following his gut and following Aria and the mechs, Nathanial looked over at the empty hallway they had disappeared down a moment ago. Then he turned to look at the door on the far side of the room. It was still open.

He wanted to go find Aria, and not just so she wouldn't get in trouble for leaving him somewhere without supervision, but…

Nathanial turned away from the hallway the others had used and, taking a shorter route, quickly and quietly made his way to the storage room where Peg was tethered. In the confusion of all the mechs working and resting in the med bay, no one noticed him lead her out of the chaos and back down to the main level and the still open door. The pair took off into the late afternoon sunlight of Iacon without so much as a raised eyebrow left behind them.


	9. Chapter 9: Suspicious Happenings

Right so happy Tuesday everybody and-

*Mrs. Mittens interupts* What? It's not Tuesday. *Checks out calendar* Oh...ah ha ha...oops. Sorry about that. Yesterday was...busy. Really cool, since I got to go to an awards dinner for a contest I received Honorable Mention for (shameless self congratulations there) and I won a Nook! Which is pretty cool. n_n So it was like 10:30 by the time I was only half way through re-reading the chapter and I thought 'Dang it, I'll just do it tomorrow.' That and FF . net was having problems as most of you probably noticed and, yeah, I think today will just work better for everyone involved. I'll get to actually see who's reading my story and you'll actually get your story alerts in a timely manner (hopefully).

Right so, three things I guess. 1) I posted a short story called The Great Shamrock Incident over the weekend (just in time for my story stats thing to break, thank you website drama!) so you should go read it. It's funny. It involves Sunny getting an unwanted paint job. :D

And no. 2! A plot bunny came up and bit me last week (ow! Stop that bunny!) Which involves younglings and lullabies. I've got some ideas in mind but I'm curious if anybody else has songs they equate with bots. I don't promise to _use_ them cuz I'm more curious then anything, but still, if you want to share, just PM me.

And after that long and rambly top note we now come to number 3 -

XD Ahahahaha! I thought this chapter would never come! These last three weeks have felt almost like for_ever_. *grins mischievously* Hope you like iiiit...and _really _hope the second part doesn't bore you (that would be sad!)...*puppy eyes* Please review! Oh! And thank you for all the ones you sent me last time too! They were Aweeesooome! :)

And yes, the flowers thing refers to Thumbelina. Ha ha! Oh, Mirage...

...

The Long Road Home

9 – Suspicious Happenings – 9

Megatron didn't really like visiting the labs where Shockwave ran his experiments. He also didn't like waiting.

Guess what he was doing right now?

It wasn't that he was afraid of standing too close to the mad scientist's 'toys', and he would have killed anyone that suggested it. The problem was that Shockwave liked investigating every possible outcome, every small, microscopic link between subject and theory. His process was painstaking, but it was profitable, so Megatron let him continue his time consuming experiments. He himself, however, did not have the time to stand around and watch while the scientist went about his work.

"If you do not come to the point quickly Shockwave I will be forced to take drastic measures." Megatron threatened his leading scientist almost idly.

The other mech looked up from where he was stooped over a control panel. "That will not be necessary Lord Megatron." He stated factually.

Megatron watched the scientist, not surprised that his threat had had no effect on him. Threats did not work on Shockwave. They were meant to frighten someone into doing what you wanted, but Shockwave didn't feel. That didn't keep Megatron from trying to find a chink in the other mech's armor though.

Megatron shifted his weight slightly and smirked not out of glee so much as for affect. "If I didn't know any better Shockwave I'd say you were Starscream, fussing over his next plan to unseat me." He prodded.

The scientist looked up at his master, something that would have been confusion on any other mech's face gleaming in his visor.

Megatron held back a frustrated gust of air. The scientist was also impossible to bait.

"If this is another waste of time Shockwave-" Megatron started again, truly irritated now.

"It is not." The dark indigo mech said firmly. Whatever was going on here, he had full faith that it would be worth Megatron's time.

Megatron allowed himself a small smirk at the thought. Faith. Shockwave. It was funny.

Finally the scientist straightened from the control panel. "I am ready." He announced unnecessarily.

"Very well then, get on with it." Megatron gestured a hand from the control panel to the clear window that took up most of the far wall he and the others were facing. Beyond the window were three mechs. Two of them were assistants of Shockwave's, performing the same checks on the equipment in the room as their master finished off the control room. The third was strapped to the far wall, across from the window.

Megatron inspected the last mech. He was young, his physical strength and mental capacities at their peak. He was also the only living test subject Shockwave was going to get in the near future as well, so he had better not be wasting this opportunity. While the Decepticons outnumbered the Autobots extensively, Megatron didn't like the idea of wasting soldiers. Much as he hated that it was true, the Autobots were clever with what they had. They had little by way of supplies – Megatron made sure of it – and most of what they had had been stolen from the Decepticons, but what was worse in Megatron's optics was that they used what little they had so effectively that they had held back the Decepticons over the course of the war. And lately, Megatron thought with a glower, lately they had even come to _match_ the Decepticons on the overall front. Recently things had taken a turn towards a stalemate.

Megatron growled just at the very thought.

_"This has gone on long enough." _He thought furiously to himself. _"_We_ control most of the planet. _We_ have the stronger forces. _We _should have crushed them long ago. And yet still they hang on, clinging to practically nothing." _He thought furiously. _"And if this war goes on much longer, there won't be anything left to fight over!"_

The problem was that they were using the energon faster than the planet could restore it. In peace time the energon supply wasn't a problem, but with the war stretching on far longer than anyone had anticipated, it was fast becoming a serious problem for everyone on the planet.

Megatron had had Shockwave working on the problem ever since he had realized what was happening. So far none of his ideas had panned out according to plan. There was simply no way they could create their own energon from scratch.

The Decepticon leader watched the mechs on the other side of the shatterproof window as Shockwave's two assistants finished their checks and left the room, locking the door behind them, making the test subject even more nervous. This new theory was probably just another waste of effort, but if Shockwave was right…

Megatron allowed himself a sharp edge grin. If he was right then they would be able to solve two problems at once. The energy coming off the lens Megatron had recovered was unlike anything either of them had ever seen, which made it difficult to discover its purpose and effect. However the initial tests had been encouraging, if not disastrous to the mad scientist's laboratory. But since then, precautions had been taken, as well as Shockwave's first theories being struck through completely before being followed with even more intriguing ideas.

Of course they had started out small. They had simply put the lens in close, constant, contact with one of the mechs Megatron had brought with him to retrieve the lens from the rubble around Iacon. The effects had been slow, but noteworthy. It hadn't taken a scientist like Shockwave to notice the increased aggression, the sudden desire for violence, the outright _fury_, that appeared in the unwitting mech. After almost a full orn with the lens, he picked a fight with a mech twice his size and strength.

And then walked away, leaving the other as a crumpled heap on the floor.

After that Megatron had sent the mech to the energy connection between Kalis and Iacon, hoping that with this new strength they could finally put some kind of dent in the Autobot city's power supply. And while they had not succeeded in crippling the Autobot's power conduit, the first test subject had taken on three conjoined forces of the enemy and put a dent in them instead.

Megatron grinned at the memory. Since then Shockwave had become obsessed with the lens, trying to work out what it was, precisely, what it did, what more it could do for the Decepticon cause.

As miraculous as the effect on the first mech had been, what the lens did to energon was even more miraculous. When put in direct contact with the fuel, it drastically changed it at the basest level. After intense study, Shockwave had told him that the potential energy in the new substance was significantly more powerful than original energon, possibly increasing the power of whoever ingested it as well. However the effects it would have on them he said were still uncertain, possibly even highly dangerous.

Megatron had told Shockwave he had better find out what the side affects were, and soon, otherwise he would find himself the next subject of interest.

Even now, with the powerful potential of what Shockwave simply called 'dark energon', Megatron still wasn't completely sure of this plan. It had too much guess work at its foundation, too many myths…but the energy source they had detected had been real. _Was_ real. And powerful enough that they had detected its presence halfway across the galaxy with enough accuracy to beam the source of the energy reading here to Cybertron.

Megatron grimaced in disgust. _"Along with a couple more insects as well, but there is a price for everything it seems."_ Really Megatron didn't let their presence bother him; he simply found it annoying to think that _more_ of those feeble organics running around on his planet.

"My lord," Shockwave's voice interrupted Megatron's thoughts, making the larger mech look up, "we are ready to begin."

Megatron waited a moment before giving the other mech a stiff nod to show he could get on with it. That was one thing Shockwave had in his favor. Unlike Starscream, he knew his place. Or at least without allowing himself emotion, he was never greedy for more.

Shockwave turned to his control board and pressed a single button since everything else on the board was already ready.

On the other side of the window, a non-sentient, mechanical arm moved away from the wall where it was anchored. It pivoted as it stretched out, turning to the left where a specially enhanced storage unit was opening. With Shockwave's input on the control board, the arm reached down and grabbed hold of one of the miniature, compressed ingots, made entirely of dark energon, that lay inside. Once it had it in its claw, it swung back around and fed it directly into the struggling test subject.

The mech went immediately slack, as if he had just been punched in the torso by a hundred Megatrons all at once. The only thing that kept him falling to the floor in a useless mass was the restraints clamping him to the wall behind him.

Megatron frowned at the mech hanging limply in the room beyond. "Well that was pointless." He muttered as the test subject's optics started to flicker sporadically.

He spoke too soon.

He had just turned to give orders to Soundwave, who had been standing behind him silently the whole time, to dispose of the now useless mech, when a roar suddenly shattered the air around them. If Megatron had been anyone less then himself, he would have felt afraid at the animal ferity in that long, drawn out howl.

He turned purposefully back towards the window, the other mechs in the room following suit.

The test subject, who had been completely limp just nanokliks before, was now straining at his restraints with a ferociousness that no one would ever have expected from the anxious mech they had seen moments before. He twisted and pulled against the clamps and without warning one of the bindings wrapped around his wrist just snapped off, flying across the room to smack against the window.

"Amazing." Shockwave said in his usual flat way. None of the three mechs had even flinched at the sudden surge of strength breaking those bonds required. They just watched in fierce interest, optics bright.

The door to the test room opened and four of Shockwave's mechs ran in. They had been chosen to guard the mad scientist's labs mainly for their immense strength, just in case one of the experiments got away from their overseer.

The test subject should not have been able to take on one of them given his original physical power, let alone all four of them. But when Megatron saw the first guard go flying across the room and crash _through _the far wall, he knew the scientist's mechs were useless.

The test subject had ripped through the chest of the second guard and had trapped the third with a strong first around his throat before Shockwave decided to put an end to the impressive display.

Almost thoughtlessly – but Megatron knew that the scientist did nothing without thinking it through first – Shockwave pressed in a control command on the board in front of him. Megatron watched as an unseen electro-magnetic pulse shot through the room, incapacitating the two remaining guards and test subject alike. Although Megatron saw with some surprise that the test subject was still struggling to get to his feet, optics burning the same violet as the lens. The guards that were still functioning could hardly shutter their optics.

"Fascinating." Shockwave said, coming to look through the window next to Megatron. "His physical strength was multiplied ten fold. Perhaps even more." The scientist pointed out flatly.

Megatron narrowed his optics at the figure through the window. He had somehow managed to get halfway up by now. The EMP should have left him twitching on the floor in a heap, but apparently _that_ wasn't about to happen anytime soon.

"What do you think Soundwave?" Megatron asked quietly, his optics never leaving the inflamed mech in the testing room.

The spymaster was a moment in answering. "He does not look…sane, my lord." He pointed out, more inflection in his voice than Megatron had heard in a long time. Megatron felt a vicious smirk pull at his faceplates. This new variant of dark energon must have him more than a little unnerved.

However, as he watched the mech on the other side of the window strain to reach his feet, nearly frothing at the mouth in his attempt, Megatron couldn't help but admit that Soundwave had a point.

Both the scientist and the spymaster waited to hear what Megatron thought of what had just happened.

"I want this one out on the front lines," Megatron said after letting the silence hang for a klik, "see how he does on the battlefield itself. If he survives you will continue your work on him. See if he has any mental powers left. I want to know everything there is about this dark energon and its effects. Leave nothing uninvestigated." He ordered the scientist calmly. "Report to me in the next orbit about what you find."

The scientist stared at Megatron as he absorbed his command, his face mask like. "Should I start contaminating the energon reservoirs Lord Megatron?" He asked without nuance.

Megatron looked back over at the Decepticon in the other room. He was still raging despite the fact that he had the use of only one leg. The Decepticon leader felt his optics narrow as he thought. Altering the remaining energon would impede the Autobots greatly while at the same time increasing Decepticon power. However once it was done it could not be undone, and if there was some side affect that they were unaware of yet that could destroy his soldiers, then it would end the war by damning them all. Much good his troops would do him if they were all leaking idiots.

"Tell me what you find and I will let you know." Megatron finally answered.

Shockwave inclined his head slightly. "Yes Lord Megatron."

As Megatron turned to leave the room, Soundwave close behind, he tried to hide the sudden exhilaration that had sprung up in his spark when he had seen the test subject take down Shockwave's guards. Despite his misgivings - despite the fact that the lens he had found was surrounded by more myth than fact - he knew that this would lead to Decepticon victory.

"The end of the war for Cybertron is in sight." He murmured solely to himself.

And he was right.

...

The second time Mirage found Nathanial and Peg in the storage room was completely different from the first.

From his spot in the open doorway, Mirage saw that, like last time, the human mech was grooming his four legged creature. However unlike a few orbits ago, the organic was much more withdrawn. He only gave Mirage a distracted glance when the mech entered the room before turning back to his beast.

His mind was clearly somewhere else, Mirage reflected as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched the strange pair standing on the countertop. Even the techno-organic the second human called Peg was more subdued than before, even though her optics were wide open, not a trace of weariness lurking in their black depths.

Peg gave a depressed whuffle as she hung her head. They were disturbed by something, Mirage thought as the human male slowly patted Peg's neck, but the question he really wanted an answer to was what.

Logic would say that the organic mech was somehow upset by the arrival of the other mechs, but Mirage didn't buy it. This went beyond the obvious mistrust and jealousy Val and the others had given Nathanial earlier.

"What? No questions this time?" Mirage finally asked, breaking the thoughtful silence of the storage room.

Nathanial blinked, slightly startled, and looked up at his guard. "I'm sorry? Oh," he asked, forcefully dragging his mind into the present, "no. Not this time."

Mirage watched as the man raised the brush to continue absentmindedly stroking Peg, but his hand stopped halfway up and he frowned, as if he wasn't quite sure what he was doing.

With an aggravated sigh, he threw the brush down and walked behind his mount, trailing a hand along her hindquarters to let her know he was there. "Come on Peggy, let's see if we can't fix that loose circuit while it's quiet." He murmured to her.

Mirage watched, curious now, as the human stared determinedly at Peg's left hind leg. The strange creature took her weight off of that foot as her human sat cross legged on the ground next to her, facing her leg. Taking a step closer, Mirage saw the human carefully pull one of the metal plates away from Peg's leg, revealing the delicate wiring within that was integrated seamlessly with her organic components.

Determined to focus on something besides whatever internal dilemma he was brooding over, the human inspected the inside of Peg's leg before carefully reaching in and singling out a wire with his fingers.

Kneeling next to the counter so that he was on optic level with Peg's leg, Mirage watched the man as he worked. His hands never hesitated, yet he was still clearly distracted by something.

"What's wrong with you?" Mirage asked, as much to save the creature Nathanial was working on from a mistake as to find out what was going on with the new human.

"Hmm?" Nathanial couldn't drag his eyes away from Peg, "Nothing. Why do you ask?"

Mirage narrowed his optics at the man. He was lying. That much was obvious, but he didn't understand why.

"Last time you were so eager to know about us and now you hardly notice when anyone else is in the same room with you. It doesn't help that you've been avoiding Aria flat out."

That seemed to penetrate the distracted haze surrounding Nathanial's mind. He blinked, and pausing his work, turned to look out the still open door. Outside in the med bay, he could just see the bright yellow exterior of Bumblebee where he and the others were visiting a now conscious (and thankfully sober) Cliffjumper. Aria's equally bright clothes could be seen on the mech's shoulder.

"It's not Aria I'm avoiding. It's her company." Nathanial said as he went back to working on Peg's wiring. He paused long enough to shoot Mirage a somewhat self-depreciating grin. "I don't think they like me very much." He explained.

Mirage gave a small huff to show he agreed. "And just think, Val and Bluestreak don't even know you caught her without her outer plating." He said, slanting the human a glare to show he didn't approve of it either.

Nathanial shuddered at the thought of what they would do to him if they ever _did_ find out. "Things just keep getting more and more complicated." He mumbled as he turned his attention back to Peg.

A loaded silence stretched to fill the little room. Nathanial's hands went on working even though his thoughts preoccupied his mind. Mirage just watched the human male and tried to decide if the unsettled feeling he was getting was enough to go to Prowl with. Spies were meant to ferret out secrets, and right now, Mirage sensed an important one.

_"I'll need to know what's going on before I take this to Prowl though," _he thought, _"He'll want something more to back up suspicions then just a feeling."_

Aria's bright laugh suddenly cut through the silence, making both males look up. She and the younger mechs were standing just outside the door, talking and laughing, all of them just probably relieved to see each other again.

Nathanial watched the woman a moment. She was perched on one of Bumblebee's large, yellow shoulder guards, leaning back on her hands with her legs half stretched out in front of her. She sat as easily as Nathanial did on Peg, like a bird on a branch. She laughed again with the others as Bluestreak continued his story.

From his place closer to the door, Mirage gave a huff of laughter. Nathanial looked up, but couldn't make out what the talkative mech was saying from the other side of the room where he stood with Peg.

"Friends of yours as well then?" Nathanial asked, trying to keep his voice open and conversational, as if he hadn't just snuck out of the base and crept silently back in.

Mirage shrugged one shoulder and leaned back against the wall. "I don't know if 'friend' is the right word, but we are more than acquaintances." He said. "I was part of the team that helped to rescue her sister, ages ago when the war was still relatively new."

Nathanial paused in his work long enough to stare at Mirage. "She has a sister?" He asked, sounding surprised, although Mirage couldn't think why.

Suddenly wondering if this was information Aria minded him sharing, Mirage throttled the conversation with the sharp answer of, "Yes." He didn't bother saying anything more.

Nathanial waited a moment to see if he would expand on that, but when it became very obvious he would not, the human went back to his work. Soon after the quiet had set in again, he disentangled himself from Peg's internal wiring and replaced the outer plate on her flank. "There ya go girl." He told her with an affectionate pat on her back. "All done. How's that?" He asked, coming up to her head.

Peg stomped her back leg to show that it worked, her horseshoe striking a sharp clang against the countertop.

Nathanial gave Peg a small grin. "Good." He said before grabbing a rag that he had tossed across his saddlebags and wiping his hands clean.

"Is it really so odd for humans to have multiple progeny?" Mirage asked the quiet man after several moments.

Nathanial dragged his attention from wherever it had been with some difficulty. "Hmm? Oh, no, not really. Why?"

Mirage narrowed his optics at him. Nathanial was still rubbing his hands with the cloth, even though all of the grease stains were gone. "You seemed so surprised to hear that Aria had a sister. I thought perhaps her having a sibling might be unusual by human standards." He stated.

Nathanial finally lost interest in the rag and threw it back towards his bags with a sigh. It missed by a foot and lay crumpled in the corner as he thoughtfully scratched at the back of his head instead.

"Multiple children aren't unusual, but neither are only children either." Nathanial explained, still sounding slightly distracted by something.

"Then I do not understand your surprise." Mirage admitted.

Nathanial looked out the door again where Aria was sitting with Bumblebee and Bluestreak. They were standing farther away from the storage room door now after Ratchet had shooed them away when he had come over and collected Val to make sure his fingers were healing properly.

Nathanial rubbed at his head again and shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I was just surprised. She doesn't seem like she's ever worried about anybody before. And with siblings it sort of comes with the territory, especially when they're younger then you are."

For the first time in a long while, Mirage laughed outright. "If that's all that you see in her then you are blind, small organic mech."

Nathanial shot his guard a sharp look, his mouth thinning unhappily, but in the end he didn't say anything against it. Instead he glanced down and quickly did a double take when he saw the iridescent green liquid staining Mirage's ankle.

Nathanial straightened in concern. "You're bleeding." He pointed out, his voice only slightly concerned.

Mirage looked down to see what Nathanial was pointing at. He rumbled slightly, sounding more aggravated than hurt as he twisted his leg to get a better look at the damage. "It's nothing," he said with an irritated frown, "barely more then a scratch."

Nathanial still grabbed hold of the extendable ladder Aria had lent him and used the railings to slide to the floor. With a careful look up at Mirage, he stepped forward to get a closer look at the wound. Mirage followed the human's every movement, but decided not to say anything quite yet.

"Looks like you've got something stuck in there." He pointed out as he peered to get a better look. He crouched down to inspect the gash and the small piece of debris that had gotten lodged inside. "Want I should pull it out?" He asked, glancing a look up at Mirage.

The mech glared down at the human, an obvious 'Pit no' just begging to jump out of his mouth. But then to Nathanial's immense surprise, the blue mech turned his stare to the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine." He said sharply.

Nathanial blinked once in surprise before bracing himself against Mirage's shin guard and reaching a careful hand to grab the debris. Once he was sure he had a good grip on it, he steadied himself and then ripped the thing free with one quick pull.

Above him, Mirage flinched slightly, but otherwise showed no sign that he had even known the stick-like nuisance had even been there.

Nathanial looked over the metal fragment as he stood. It was long, pointed, and thin, about the width and length of his forearm. It was longer then most daggers the man had seen, but he knew to someone as big as Mirage it was no more than an irritating splinter.

With a disinterested glance, Nathanial threw the splinter into the corner, where it skidded to a stop against the wall. "So where did you pick that up anyway?" He asked, aiming for small talk.

Mirage shrugged and glared mildly at the wall in front of him. "I must have gotten scratched when I was fending off that Decepticon." He said, not looking down at Nathanial.

The human shot his watcher a crooked grin, but there was no humor in it. "Gave you some trouble eh?"

"They gave us all trouble," Mirage answered defensively, glaring at Nathanial as he made his way back to the ladder. "These were not normal 'Cons."

The stutter in Nathanial's step was almost impossible to notice, but Mirage was glaring at him so hard that he couldn't help but see the way the human had frozen for an instant, as if Mirage's words had slapped him upside the head.

"Oh, really?" Nathanial asked a moment later, his voice carefully controlled. "Are they getting smarter on you then?"

Mirage snorted. "No, just the opposite. These seemed even more brutish then usual, but they don't have to be smart to be strong." He muttered darkly.

Nathanial nodded distractedly. "No, I suppose they don't." He mumbled.

There was a strange moment of silence where the only sounds were those of Aria and the two mechs talking beyond the doorway.

Eventually, Nathanial visibly shook himself and looked back up at Mirage. "Do you want me to close that up for you? It wouldn't be any trouble." He said, his voice once again forcibly light and friendly.

Mirage narrowed an optic at the human. He knew the cheer was fake now.

Mistaking the Autobot's stern glance, Nathanial pointed up at the countertop where Peg was looking down at him. "If there's one thing being in a cavalry full of techno-organics teaches you, its how to weld." He explained.

Mirage gave the human a hard look. "No, that will be unnecessary. My own healing capabilities will be more then enough to handle it now." He told him before adding an extremely stiff, "thank you."

Nathanial shrugged as if it was fine by him either way, but his relaxed attitude disappeared when he caught sight of the viscous fluid now smeared across his hands.

Mirage watched, curious, as Nathanial stifled a curse and went to wipe the energon on his pants, but quickly stopped himself. He looked around somewhat urgently for the rag he had used earlier, but of course it was still left on the countertop far above his head.

Wondering what had the organic mech suddenly anxious, Mirage carefully dragged the little scrap of cloth across the counter with a large finger before pulling it over the edge. Nathanial caught it as it fell down towards the floor and quickly began scrubbing at his hands.

"There is no need for you to be so distressed." He told the man after a cycle of watching him curiously. "It's just a little energon. It's what lets us survive." He told the man, some condescension sneaking into his tone.

Nathanial shot a glare up at the mech. "I know what it is." He snapped. "But energon is poisonous to humans. It can seep through the skin and destroy the internal workings of a human body. Not something we want running around through our systems." He muttered as he inspected his hands to make sure that they were free of energon. Then he scrubbed them again just to be sure. He had seen victims of energon poisoning before and he did not want to have that happen to him.

Mirage raised an optic ridge at Nathanial's words, but didn't say anything. If he thought mentioning Sera had been a mistake, what would Aria do to him if he let it slip to Nathanial that her body _produced_ energon, to some, small extent at least anyway.

_"Some things are just best left unspoken."_ Mirage thought before steering the conversation away from anymore potential landmines.

"Where did you learn all of these mechanics anyway?" Mirage asked the human gruffly, eyeing him for good measure. "I was under the impression you came from a higher class family yourself." Why else would he have noticed the lack of such a simple little word as 'yeah'?

Nathanial moved on to wiping his forearms, just in case, and didn't look up at Mirage as he answered. He understood the implied question; Why was he working if he came from a well to-do family?

"Yes, well," Nathanial said, his face giving nothing away, "third sons don't really have the option of lounging around for the rest of their lives. And at least with the Equine cavalry you get to do something useful. Mother was furious though when I told her." He said with a wicked little grin. Considering he had heard the tell tale sound of breaking ceramic in the other room, maybe furious was a bit of an understatement.

Mirage looked down at Nathanial, slightly confused. "Third sons? You have elder brothers?"

Nathanial nodded absentmindedly. "And a younger sister as well."

"Why are there so many of you?" Mirage asked, clearly missing the point of having four children. At least Aria only had the one sibling. Even in the largely solitary Cybertronian culture, bonded siblings, or even twins, weren't too rare, although they weremainly one on one relationships. Occasionally you would find bonded groups of three, like the femme leader, Elita-One, and her two sisters, Chromia and Arcee, but it was still odd.

Nathanial shrugged, not looking up from the now green stained rag in his hands as he fiddled with it, making sure not to touch the congealing fluid smeared on it. "I don't know. Why does anyone have children at all?" He asked, not expecting an answer.

"Legacy?" Mirage suggested. It was a concept he was fairly familiar with.

Nathanial laughed too sharply to be truly amused. "Then it is an accidental legacy. I don't think my parents counted on Thomas being there at all."

Mirage couldn't help but notice the cynical undertones to Nathanial's voice. "Accident? Don't all organic offspring just come out of flowers or something?"

Despite his bad mood, Nathanial's laughter was startled right out of him. "Flowers?" He asked loudly, his face opening up slightly in an incredulous grin. "No! Where'd you hear that?"

Mirage's optics slanted to the side in his embarrassment. "Just some story I heard Aria tell her brood when they were younglings. It's nothing." He said quickly.

Nathanial went back to his work, Peg glancing at him every so often out of the corner of her eyes. Mirage wasn't very familiar with techno-organics, but even he noticed the worried glint to the creature's black optics.

"Flowers," Nathanial chuckled quietly to himself a moment later, but Mirage heard him anyway. He narrowed his optics at the human for good measure.

They were silent another long moment as Nathanial looked out the doorway again at Aria. She didn't notice as she smiled and laughed with Bluestreak and Bumblebee, as carefree as any other girl Nathanial had ever met, even though he knew she had less reason to be that easy then any human alive.

As they watched, Aria held out her arms to Bluestreak. The young mech held out a hand obligingly and she slid off of 'Bee's shoulder to land in Bluestreak's palm. Without waiting for an invitation, she clambered up his arm to his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck, or at least she tried to. His neck was too wide for her to hug properly. But she didn't care. She just pressed herself close and kissed his cheek when she drew back. Bluestreak looked embarrassedly to the side, but smiled at Aria all the same.

Nathanial found himself shaking his head in bemusement at her. He would have felt insulted at the offered palm, thinking that it was their way of saying he couldn't do anything without their help. Sitting on their shoulder would be even worse, as if he was some sort of pet. But that obviously wasn't how Aria perceived it, or how the others meant it. It was just how she interacted with them. It was awkward for them to come down to her level, so she climbed up to theirs. And she was always more then happy when they wanted to help her.

"She really does belong here, doesn't she?" Nathanial asked eventually, his voice soft.

"Yes," Mirage said slowly as he turned to watch Aria too, "she is…well loved." He thought that described her presence here accurately enough.

Nathanial nodded slowly as he fiddled with the rag again, needing to keep his hands busy. "Then she is very lucky," he said with a sigh, "whether she knows it or not."


	10. Chapter 10: Withdrawal Symptoms

XD Yay! Chapter 10! We have now reached double digits! Hooray ;D And I love this chapter! Specially the first part. And you will soon see why. Vivian Hale did you read my mind earlier, or is Jazz just that predictable? ;) Of course great big thanks go out to my reviewers, whom I will actually answer later today...*sheepish expression* Oh, and thank you also to everyone who said they liked the second half of the last chapter, the one I was unsure of. Your thoughts encouraged me greatly. So thank you! ::heart!::

Oh, and if my Wheeljack-speak sounds suspiciously like something I cobbled together from Wikipedia and half remembered scraps from high school science class, well...it probably...is. ^-.-^ (*someone should've listened better in class* thinks Mrs. Mittens)

Magical Moon - Thank you! It means a lot to hear you say that. Especially since sometimes it feels to me like the story's just standing still. I know it's probably my perspective, but still, thank you bunches!

Autobot-Bre - n_n Nah, it wasn't obvious. Or at least, it shouldn't have been since I may have, possibly, intentionally, left some pretty big gaps in what's going on... ^,,^ And thank you! I'm really glad you like it!

...

The Long Road Home

10 – Withdrawal Symptoms – 10

Fighting a war in the long term was not what Optimus Prime had expected it to be. When he was small he had always thought of wars as fairly short, with a handful of skirmishes followed by one big, decisive battle between good versus evil. Of course, good always triumphed, evil was always vanquished, and soon after, things got better.

Now, after being too long at war, Optimus saw the naiveté of his former way of thinking. War was long and gruesome and often just one little misstep was enough to throw hundreds of lives away.

That threat of just one little misstep was always hanging over Optimus' head now, like a sword poised above his neck. Many times had he wished to lay aside his title as Prime so that the sword would go hover over somebody else, but he knew he couldn't. It had chosen him and he could not abandon his post.

But he could secure it. He could ensure that there would be no backlash against those he cared about if the sword fell. He could do everything in his power to protect them from its shadow, and he did.

"The 'cons made another go at the Kalis-Iacon power conductor, but the Wrecker's and Rollbar's team were able to beat them off. Seems like they're gonna give up their siege attempts and just aim at cutting off our power source again."

Optimus dragged his attention from where it was wandering and made himself look over at Jazz. They were the only two in the room that had once been just another reading room in the Hall of Records before Optimus had commandeered it as his briefing room. He felt more comfortable here then in an actual office.

"I see," Optimus muttered as he thought over what Jazz had just said. The other mech waited from where he stood on one side of the table, forgoing one of the chairs. It was a peculiarity of his. Jazz never stood at attention. He hardly ever saluted, at least not without some light mockery mixed into the motion. When Optimus had asked why once a long time ago, he had winked cheekily and said it was to keep their new Prime from getting a big head.

But at the same time, Optimus had noticed that whenever he was on duty, whenever he was giving his reports on the newest twists in the war, Jazz never sat, even when no one else was around.

"So what should we do Prime? More patrols to keep an optic on 'em or go for some smash-and-dashes." Jazz grinned, showing which option he liked better. "We could just watch 'em through our spy-eyes and lash 'em whenever they get too close." He suggested.

Optimus thought about it. After a silent moment he slowly shook his head thoughtfully. "No, Wheeljack's spy-eyes aren't all that reliable that close to the power conductor. It messes with their circuitry. Let's just increase the patrols. Two five-bot teams patrolling every orbit so that someone's always got their optics on the conduit. I want you and Hound to coordinate which bots are on which team, along with their patrol schedules."

Jazz nodded curtly. "On it man."

Optimus opened his mouth to turn to other business when he caught sight of a figure standing in the doorway. He paused, mouth slightly open as he stared at her.

"Hey there Aria," Jazz waved at her with a grin when he turned to see who Optimus was staring at, "how ya doin' this fine evenin'?" He asked in his usual upbeat way.

Aria looked over at Jazz, some of her anxiety evaporating as she smiled slightly at him. "Fine, but you do know it's morning already, right Jazz?" She asked him.

Jazz blinked as he checked his internal chronometer. "Huh," he muttered, "this would explain why I feel like a freakin' insomniac." He observed.

Aria smiled at him, a little wider then before, but it still wasn't much more then a muscle twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Is there something I can do for you Ariah?" Optimus asked her matter of factly.

Aria looked over at him again, but her blue optics quickly flashed away as she fiddled with a strand of her long brown hair. "Well, uh, I-" she stuttered nervously, not looking up at Optimus again, "I was just making sure you were alright. You seemed like you were under a lot of stress the last time I saw you in the sub-levels." She was almost mumbling near the end.

Optimus remembered the sub-levels well. He felt ashamed of himself for losing his temper like that, but he didn't see what he could do at this point. He refused to treat Aria any different then the other mechs under his command. Maybe then she wouldn't get into so much trouble if she was ever caught.

So Optimus gave her a slow, stately nod. "Yes, I'm fine, but thank you for your concern Ariah." He told her.

Aria's shoulder slumped slightly as she stared hard at the floor to her left. "Oh," she said in a small voice. He sounded like he was reading something off of a prompt card.

Jazz, stuck in between the two, subtly turned toward the door. "Maybe I should just leave you two alone a sec." He said, taking a step towards the open door.

"No," Aria said suddenly, looking up at Jazz, "it's fine, really. I just wanted to make sure Optimus is fine, and he is, so I'll just," her fingers started shaking lightly as her self-confidence deserted her again, "I'll just go." She said softly. "Later Jazz, Optimus," she said softly before stepping back out into the main room outside.

"Ariah, wait-" Optimus suddenly called out as some internal urgency abruptly gripped his spark.

Aria stopped, and turned back around to face him. He recognized that look on her face as she began to hope that maybe things between them could be straightened out, that their friendship could be fixed.

"I-" Optimus stumbled. He didn't want to just leave things like this, really he didn't, but looking at her, his spark seized, and he suddenly couldn't think of one thing he wanted to say to her.

"I just wanted to tell you," he said slowly, as he locked his sudden shame away, "that Wheeljack's been asking for your help in his lab. And since Alpha Trion continues to insist that Nathanial poses no threat to us, I find no problem with you helping Wheeljack and Ratchet like you did before."

The change in Aria's face as her hope fled was subtle, but profound. "Oh," she mumbled, her eyes drifting once again to the floor, "alright then. I'll go talk to him. And you," she said, some of her usual fire coming back as she looked up at him once last time, "you take care of yourself Optimus."

She waved bye to Jazz again before leaving the room, her small frame somewhat slumped as she withdrew in on herself. Optimus and Jazz saw it, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

Jazz turned towards Optimus when she was gone, a disappointed look on his face.

"Ah O.P., you didn't." Was all he said.

"What?" Optimus asked somewhat sharply.

"What did you say to her before? She couldn't've looked more upset if ya'd kicked her." Jazz told him.

Optimus stubbornly looked down at his data pad. "We had a misunderstanding. It was nothing." He insisted.

Jazz narrowed his optics at him. "That sure didn't look like nuthin'." He muttered.

"Well it is." Optimus stated more forcefully then he had intended.

Jazz watched his old friend a moment in silence. "Y'know," he muttered meaningfully a moment later, his optics never leaving Prime's unmoving frame, "Prowler told me the other orbit that he thought the stress might be really comin' down hard on ya. And then when I asked him why he thought that, he said that you had actually yelled at Aria over something that wasn' worth yellin' over."

Optimus didn't say anything.

"Of course the first thing I thought was, 'Nah, Optimus wouldn't do somethin' like that. Not to Aria.'" Jazz fixed Optimus with level optics.

Optimus did not look up from his desk, even when he felt the optics of his friend start to bore into him.

"Was I wrong?"

Optimus shuttered his optics, trying to keep a level head. "She doesn't listen." He finally said.

Jazz shrugged, but Optimus could see that Jazz was disappointed in him. "So? She's never listened. How d'ya think she ended up leaping out of a twelfth story window with nuthin' under her but a techno-organic that doesn't like her much?" He asked.

Optimus' head snapped up at that. "She _what_?" He demanded loudly. This was the first he'd heard of this. "How can she be that reckless?" He asked worriedly. "She could have been killed!"

Jazz fixed him with a cool stare. "Oh, so you _do_ care about her then?"

Optimus was instantly brought up short. "That was a low blow." He muttered grimly. Jazz was the only one who would dare point out his shortcomings that coldly. He was also the only one Optimus didn't discipline for it because he knew Jazz didn't mean it as a way to undermine him. His were always private words.

"I didn't intend to yell at her." Optimus said, trying to defend himself. "I just didn't have time to argue with her over something so small."

Jazz's optics didn't turn away. "That doesn't excuse what you did."

"She needs to remember how to take orders. Whether either of us like it, I am her superior officer."

"Yeah, but that's no all you are O.P." Jazz said, softer than before. "You're her friend."

But then some of the hardness came back into the smaller mechs optics. It was so strong that Optimus could see it even through Jazz's visor. "Or at least I thought you were."

Optimus didn't answer him. Just turned back to his desk that was overflowing with reports and requests.

"Friendship is not conducive to war." He finally spoke.

He felt more then saw Jazz's glare. "Yeah, but it's necessary for living. Otherwise what are you fighting for but just another empty orbit of pain and misery?" He asked coldly.

Optimus did not move. In the back of his processor he vaguely reflected that he probably should have felt something in response to those words – shame, understanding, maybe even the feeling that Jazz had just kicked him in the gut – but he didn't. All he felt was tired and resigned to another day of battling Megatron, trying to save something that was so scarred that it could never be whole again.

Jazz turned around when Optimus didn't say anything. "I gotta go run patrols along the conduit. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." He often said that before he left the city for whatever reason, as a friendly joke usually, but now there was some real reprimand in his words.

Optimus didn't move until he heard Jazz's footsteps leave the room and the muffled shuff of the door as it closed behind him. When he knew he was alone, he vented a deep sigh and shuttered his optics in a pained look.

He was doing this for their own protection. Why couldn't they see that?

...

Even though he hadn't known her very long, Nathanial knew something important had happened to Aria in the last few hours. Someone had hurt her again. She was quiet and withdrawn, staring straight ahead of her, refusing to look at anyone as they passed her by in the hallway.

"So," Nathanial said when they'd been walking for awhile, "where are we going again?" He asked, hoping to get Aria to say _something_.

Aria blinked as if she had to drag herself out of some dark place. "Hm? Oh, we're going to Wheeljack's lab. Since," she stumbled over a word, but changed it to another before Nathanial could figure out what it was, "since management has decided that you're not a threat to us, I get to go back to work." She sounded as if she both loved and hated that statement.

"Ah," Nathanial said as he sped up a little to keep up with Aria, "and what does this have to do with me?"

Aria stopped so fast that Nathanial had gone on a few more paces before realizing she was now behind him. He looked over to see that she looked surprised.

"Well," she said haltingly as she tried to think through something, "nothing, really, I guess. If they trust you now then I guess you could go do whatever you want as long as it doesn't involve any of the off limit areas like the command center, but," she paused uncertainly, "but I sorta thought you'd like to come with me." She admitted so sheepishly that Nathanial realized she hadn't even considered the possibility that he would prefer to be somewhere else.

Seeing her sudden nervousness at the realization, Nathanial smiled a little and shook his head at her. _"Well what else have I got to do? If I brush Peg anymore, she'll bite me for giving her a rash."_

"Alright," he told Aria, "I suppose there's not much to do around here for someone like me."

Aria smiled at him, but she quickly hid it to appear stern and commanding. "Good." She said simply before walking on. "It's this way."

They walked on. Before long, Nathanial noticed that they had been walking long enough to have circled the Hall of Records three times over. "Just how far away is this lab?" He asked when they passed the first scorch mark on the wall.

"Oh, not much farther now." Aria said as Nathanial eyed the scorch mark uncertainly, "It's actually connected to the med bay directly, but we're taking the long way around since Ratchet's still got his hands full from the mechs that got hurt in that last firefight."

"And because if we even step one foot in the door he'll throw something at us correct?" Nathanial added.

Aria grinned and gave a cheery little nod. "You're learning."

They came across the main door to Wheeljack's lab a few minutes later. It was small compared to the rest of the doors in the city, but still large enough for someone - say, Ratchet - to carry a body - say, an unconscious and smoke covered Wheeljack - out if need be. Nathanial noticed with some uncertainty that one door was hanging at a slight angle since one hinge had been, eh, misplaced. They were also covered in soot and the old marks of violent explosions.

"Say," Nathanial said when they walked up to a special, human sized door Wheeljack had installed next to the main ones so Aria could get in, and more importantly out, on her own. "Are you sure this is a good idea? There isn't, um, something else we can do?"

Aria rolled her eyes at the man as she lifted the latch on the door. "Don't be such a scaredy-cat. I know where all the emergency exits are." She told him before expertly throwing her shoulder against the door that was almost always stuck.

The door popped open and immediately a dark cloud of thick smoke rolled out. Both humans jumped back, coughing and hacking as the smoke enveloped them. Nathanial waved an arm to try and dispel the choking smoke and stepped back to a safer distance. Aria, however, ran forward, ignoring what Nathanial thought to be several self-preservation instincts.

"Wheeljack!" Aria yelled as she dashed forward.

"Aria-_cough_-wait!" Nathanial yelled after her. "At least wait for the smoke to clear!" He managed to say between bouts of lung wrenching coughs.

She didn't of course, and instead ducked through the little door and shouted for Wheeljack again.

With a groan, Nathanial followed her, covering his nose and mouth with a handkerchief to try and keep from killing himself before he was even in the room.

The smoke was so black that Nathanial could barely see a foot in front of him. And then when his eyes started to water that shortened into a mere few inches. But Aria was still shouting, so he managed to follow her by her loud calls as she looked for the inventor.

A second later there was a loud clang as something metal hit another something metal.

"Fraggit!" Wheeljack's loud voice cut through the smoke, along with some overly loud hacking as he tried to clear his vents. "Of all the confounding, blasted, slaggin'-"

It went on like this for a few minutes. By the end Nathanial was more than a little impressed at the inventor's vocabulary.

"Wheeljack!" Aria's loud voice cut through the smoke and curses, "turn on the air vents already!" She hollered at him from somewhere in the cloud.

Nathanial automatically threw himself to the ground when, after a loud click, a sudden 'vroom!' appeared, swallowing up every other noise around, and a vacuum appeared and started to suck Nathanial forward.

It took him a moment to realize he was about to be sucked into an industrial powered air vent and spit out only God knew where.

"Turn it off!" He tried to yell above the noise. **_"Turn it off!_**"

Miraculously, Wheeljack heard him and shut the air vent down. When he spoke next his voice was a lot closer then Nathanial had anticipated. "First you say turn it on, they you want it off. Would you make up your mind already Aria?" He grumbled.

The smoke had cleared enough now that only a smudgy, gray haze still lingered. "That wasn't me," Aria said from where she now stood on the counter that was reserved for her. From up here she could see almost everything in the lab from the storage bins that held Wheeljack's impromptu supplies, to the sturdy table he had had moved here from his original lab in the med sector where he had originally conducted all of his experiments. The inventor himself stood, covered in smoke, in the middle of the room.

Wheeljack narrowed curious optics at her. "Then who…?"

Down near his feet, Nathanial managed to lift his head off of the ground to see what was going on. "That would be me." He said, and then coughed as the dust started to settle down around him.

Up on the counter, Aria bit back a laugh. Nathanial was coated in soot from Wheeljack's latest disaster, but he didn't notice it until he tried to stand up. He looked down at himself in disbelief before giving a resigned sigh and starting to try and brush the ash off of his arms. Little black clouds puffed up wherever he patted, only to resettle on his clothes.

"You look one of the dogs from the end of 101 Dalmatians!" Aria shouted down at him, grinning widely.

Nathanial gave up trying to dust himself off and turned to look at her. "What's a Dalmatian?" He asked.

Aria shook her head. _"I guess some things are still different between us."_ She thought before yelling down. "Nothing, O Spotted One. Now are you coming up here or what?"

Nathanial looked around, but didn't see the stairs welded to the counter's side until she pointed it out.

"How did you even find your way up here in all that smoke?" He asked as he joined her.

Aria shrugged. "Let's just say I have a lot of experience with finding my way around here in smoke clouds, and leave it at that." She grinned slightly.

Nathanial gave a small chuckle, but it quickly turned into more asthmatic coughing. "You must be braver than I. After smoke cloud number one I'd be tempted to leave and never come back." He whispered so only she could hear him.

"Nah," Aria whispered back, "you would just learn to duck better."

Their little conversation was cut off as Wheeljack finally noticed there were _two_ humans standing on his counter. Frowning slightly, he came over and leaned down to get a closer look.

"Aria," the inventor said slowly as he peered intently at Nathanial, "did that explosion knock my processor harder then I thought, or are there really two of you up here?" He asked as he leaned close enough that his optics cast a ten foot shadow out behind the two organics. "And why does other you look...flatter?" He asked sounding very confused as he leaned towards Nathanial.

Nathanial leaned back ever so slightly, not liking this new intrusion into his personal space.

Aria, however, didn't appear to care that Wheeljack's face was only two feet from theirs. "No, you're not seeing things again Wheeljack. This is Nathanial, another human like me, albeit a mech instead. Nathanial, this is our resident inventor, Wheeljack." She quickly introduced them.

Wheeljack didn't speak as he looked the other organic up and down, his cheerful face becoming sterner. "Oh yes, Bumblebee mentioned another organic now that I think about it."

Nathanial suddenly found himself breaking into a cold sweat. "I, erm, I hope he had good things to say." Even though he highly doubted it.

Wheeljack eyed the organic male and rumbled darkly as he leaned away.

Nathanial looked down. "No, I thought not." He muttered as he tried to look at anything but the aggravated inventor.

"Sooo…" Aria said slowly as she looked nervously between Nathanial and Wheeljack, "what're you doing down here Wheeljack? Anything interesting?"

Wheeljack eyed the new human sharply a moment longer before turning back to his smoking worktable with a disgusted sigh.

"I'm trying to find a way to hook up the new power cell we found in Crystal City to the shield generator, but it's not working." He groused.

"What's wrong with it?" Aria asked curiously.

Wheeljack shot the malformed lump on his table another frustrated look. "It's a Superion class A cell model and I'm trying to plug it into an industrial Zed model generator. That's what's wrong with it!" He shouted in frustration as he glared at the new power cell, which, amazingly enough, still sat shiny and new off to the side. At least his insulation to prevent any backlash against their new power source had held.

"And that's…" Aria stared up at him, "…bad?"

"It's impossible is what it is!" Wheeljack yelled.

Aria was too lost in the technical jargon to even remind Wheeljack that impossible just didn't exist for him.

"Have you tried adding a voltage regulator to stabilize the power coming out of the cell?" Nathanial suddenly asked.

"Yes, of course," Wheeljack said, hardly even noticing that it was the new human speaking now, "but the cell has just got so much energy that the regulator just causes a build up in the cell that will damage it if it goes on to long."

Nathanial shrugged one shoulder. "Then plug something else into the cell. Another generator, maybe."

But Wheeljack just shook his head. "No, then if one generator goes, they both go. It'd be easier just to hand over our shield codes to the Decepticons." He grumbled.

"What about another battery. A dead one. That way, you have your shield generators on separate circuits, and you have an extra battery when this one runs out." He pointed at the shining power cell that had once been used in the scientific breakthroughs that Crystal City had once been known for.

Wheeljack paused. "That could work…" he muttered as he stared at the power cell, and then over at Nathanial standing amiably on the counter, "Why didn't I think of that before?" He asked himself before setting back to work.

Aria blinked at Nathanial. She had only understood the very basic gist of what had just happened. "How do you know all that?" She asked in a mild state of awe.

Nathanial looked at her as if it should be obvious. "Peg."

"Peg told you all this?" Aria asked. She supposed that could make sense since Peg was hooked up to one of the Thirteen's memory collectors.

"No," Nathanial said with an understanding smile. "Peg needs all of this. It's required for the 'techno' in the 'techno-organic'. Everybody who joins the cavalry has to know this, along with high level mathematics and such."

"Oh," Aria murmured, "I had a hard time just with high school algebra." She confessed.

Before Nathanial could answer her, a set of plans lying behind them caught his eye, distracting him. He turned to get a better look. They were blueprints, he realized, and very intriguing ones at that.

"What's this?" The human asked as he stepped closer to stare at the mech sized plans at his feet.

"That?" Wheeljack asked, turning to see what he was talking about. "That is an idea I had for a ground based matter transporter. I call it a Ground Bridge. You know, like the Space Bridge, only it's on the ground." He explained. "I think it has great potential, only with this stupid power cell giving me trouble I haven't had time to work on it." He complained somewhat sourly.

"It's brilliant…" Nathanial mumbled as he read over the schematics.

"What're you going to use it for?" Aria asked, looking up at Wheeljack.

The inventor had to think about that. "Oh, I dunno. I hadn't really gotten that far." He admitted sheepishly. "I'll send stuff, I guess…"

"Me."

Both Aria and Wheeljack looked over at Nathanial. "What?" Aria asked, sounding concerned.

Nathanial straightened up, a new, determined, gleam in his brown eyes. "You'll send me. If these schematics are correct, and I think they are, then you can send solid matter practically anywhere in the universe, correct?"

Wheeljack nodded, but still looked unsure. "Well, yeah, that's the idea-"

"Then with a few modifications, you can use it to transport me and Peg back to Aracia."

Aria felt her face fall. "W-what?" She stammered. He actually wanted to _leave_?

In two quick strides, Nathanial stood right in front of Aria and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Don't you see?" He asked excitedly. "If this works, then it can send Peg and me _home_."

Aria felt her mouth open, but no sound came out. She stared at him, complete and total shock overriding her brain.

Some of the excitement evaporated from Nathanial's eyes. "Aria?" He asked carefully.

Aria moved her mouth soundlessly a second more. "That's," she finally remembered how to speak, "that's great."

Nathanial gave her sudden smile a critical look, but was too excited himself to realize she had only dredged it up from some forgotten corner of her mind.

"It's more than great; it's wonderful!" He shouted as he suddenly hugged Aria. He quickly let go, not even noticing that Aria hadn't even had the presence of mind to hug him back, and turned back to Wheeljack, asking questions about the mechanics of the theoretical Ground Bridge.

Aria stood there, still in shock. She just couldn't wrap her mind around the thought that Nathanial still wanted to leave.


	11. Chapter 11: Iacon, We Have A Problem

Well here we go again. You can actually see some concrete forward movement in the plot this time! Gasp! Uh...other then that I don't have much to say except that I'm kinda tired yet still amazingly grateful to all my reviewers along with everyone else out there reading this. Luv you guys! Thank yoooouuuuu!

n_n Enjoy the chapter!

...

The Long Road Home

11 – Iacon, We Have A Problem – 11

Jazz was still steaming as he rolled along the Kalis-Iacon power conduit, the rest of his team strung out behind him.

_"Man, how can he be that stupid?"_ He wondered crossly to himself. _"Leader or not – good at it or not – you don't just ditch your friends like some hunk of junk!"_

They rolled a little farther, Jazz silently fuming all the while, until the small mech finally gave himself a shake. _"Would you cut it out?"_ He asked himself. _"You've got a job to do and worryin' over Aria and the boss bot ain't gonna help you do it. Now focus yerself!"_

Obeying his own order, Jazz firmly set aside his irritation and rolled on, alert for any 'cons in the subterranean tunnel that housed the bulk of the power conduit. Numerous smaller tunnels sprung off from the main one they were patrolling, leading to dank places either filled with wiring that had since been rendered useless, or creatures of the underground. Not even Decepticons had dared to travel those dark places, afraid of the grotesque beasts that lived down there where no light could reach.

They traveled in silence, keeping their senses attuned to any shifts in the air around them that signaled they were not alone down here. For the most part Jazz managed to focus, then…

_"Slaggit how could he _do_ that?"_

"Sir," one of the mechs following him broke in before Jazz could really get going.

"What?" Jazz snapped, and then flinched when he realized he was taking his own troubles out on someone else. The other mech's optics widened in surprise as the usually laid-back bot bristled. Jazz managed to regain control of himself and transformed into his bipedal form. The other mechs did the same.

"What is it Steelgrip?" He asked the other mech, careful to keep his frustrations to himself.

"I've just received a message from Hound. Sunstreaker's team has just finished their patrol of the ground level conduit and pulled into Iacon. Hound is preparing to take his down into the main tunnel to start his own patrol. He's requesting our location, sir."

Jazz resisted the urge to shake his head at the overly formal bot. "Just like a well oiled chronometer," he muttered instead. With this rotation, there would always be one patrol in the underground and one patrol up surface-side to ensure that no 'cons could sneak around into unsupervised territory.

"Tell Hound we're about to head up. The tunnel's ready for him whenever. And quit callin' me sir." He stressed. _"The Jazz-man is not a sir."_ He said to himself.

Steelgrip nodded smartly. "Yes, s-uh," he stumbled when he caught sight of Jazz's sharp look, "I mean, I understand." Then he turned away to send the compacted pulse wave back to Hound.

Jazz turned to face the tunnel exit that lay just beyond. It sat at the top end of a sharp rise in the ground beneath their feet. There were sensors inlaid in the thick door that would tell them if anything unpleasant was waiting for them outside, but other then that, not even a single ray of light could be seen through the door.

Jazz always hated this part. He didn't like not being able to see what was going on with his own two optics. But the sooner they got out there, the sooner they could start on the way back to Iacon to get some rest. Jazz refused to count how long it had been since he'd had more then a shallow recharge, but he had a feeling it had been long enough that Ratchet would pound him if he ever found out.

"You went how long without recharge?" The older mech would shout. "Do you _want_ to slip off on duty? Or are you just making it easier for the 'cons to get you?"

"Uh, Jazz?" Steelgrip's hesitant words brought Jazz our of his imaginings. "We're all ready s-erm." He stopped the word before it could escape.

Jazz nodded wearily. "Right. Well let's get out of this dank Pit. See if the sun still don't shine, right?" He managed to gather up enough of his usual self to wink at Steelgrip. Then he nearly laughed as the other mech started at him in a cloud of heavy confusion.

"Let's get out of here." Jazz shortened his previous statement before transforming into his small, rounded alt-mode and gunning it up the ramp.

After making sure that the coast was clear, the five mechs took off along the conduit, sensors peeled for anything strange. Jazz noticed that they were all a little uptight out here in the open. There was no cover except for the conduit, but they couldn't very well use _that_ as shelter from fire. They were supposed to protect it, not use it as a shield against a Decepticon barrage.

Mindful of the open area, they sped off along the power line faster then they had in the tunnel, but still slow enough that they could watch the landscape around them with their optics along with their sensors.

They were about halfway down the line when trouble finally struck.

"'Cons!" Steelgrip suddenly shouted, coming out of his alt-mode fast enough that he had to duck and roll to avoid hurting himself on the landing.

Jazz spun around fast enough to send up a spray of loose grit around him to see three 'cons barreling down the ridge that sat on this side of the power conduit. He barely had enough time to transform before the two faster ones were on them.

"He he he! Look at 'em Swindle. The stupid Autobot's are trying to be brave!" One of the smaller mechs laughed as he launched himself at one of the Autobots.

"For once you and I agree on something Dead End. Now shut up and trash 'em!" The other yelled as he emptied a round of slugs in Jazz's direction.

Jazz reacted instantly, relying on long training hours and fierce bouts with Prowl to keep him a step ahead of the 'cons. He fired off a quick shot at Swindle, rendering the mech's hand useless with his favored EMP blaster. Then while the Decepticon was cussing him out and dealing with the two Autobots that had swarmed him once Jazz had shot him, the silver mech spun and leapt on the still laughing Dead End. The crazy glitch was trying to beat the energon right out of Steelgrip.

He threw the 'con, who'd been too stupid to see him racing towards him, and quickly helped Steelgrip up as the maniac 'con got caught up with the final mech on Jazz's team.

A sudden roar made Jazz's fluids run cold.

Dead End took advantage of the Autobots' sudden statue-impersonations to hit the mech nearest him with a double handed blow, sending him reeling.

"Ooo," the psycho muttered as he fixed his red optics on Jazz, "you fleshie-loving glitches are in for it now." He taunted.

"Mute yer trap Pit-spawn!" Jazz shot back, his earlier irritation finally finding an avenue of escape. "In case you've been too slaggin' stupid to notice, we outnumber your sorry afts."

Dead End just giggled manically.

Jazz's optics never left the crazed Decepticon, so he never saw the last 'con barrel into the fray like a rampaging freight train. But he did see the frames of two of his team go flying into the conduit where they were abruptly and violently electrocuted, the roaring power of the conduit frying their internal circuitry.

Jazz felt his mouth go slack at the sight.

In front of him, Dead End started giggling again.

"I think that evened the odds some, don't you?" He asked.

Jazz grabbed Steelgrip and threw him towards the side. "Transform and roll out!" He yelled before hurriedly following his own order. He took off along the conduit, throwing up a trail of dust in his wake as he sped towards Iacon, the other two survivors hot on his wheels.

::W-what the heck is that thing?:: Steelgrip sent over their private channel.

Jazz swiveled his sensors to see what the other mech was talking about. Behind them, running after them on all fours rather then reverting back to his alt-mode, was a Decepticon that frightened Jazz down to his core. On the outside he wasn't much different then Swindle and Dead End, who were racing off behind him, trying to catch up, but there was something…darker, lurking in him, something that had turned his optics a Pit-spawned violet.

::I don't know. And I don't wanna find out.:: The other Autobot sent back.

::Quit yer yappin' and hit 'im on my mark.:: Jazz sent to the other two. ::One, two, three, mark!::

Instantly all three Autobots spun around and fired, not even bothering to completely change into their bipedal forms to do it. The monster chasing them broke off running to shield his eerily glowing optics from their fire, but he didn't fall under the quick burst of weapon's fire before Jazz and the others dashed off again, kicking up dust along the conduit.

::H-he doesn't even look hurt!:: Steelgrip pointed out.

_"No,"_ Jazz thought grimly as he looked behind him, _"No he doesn't." _Instead, he just looked fragged off.

::Right, we're gonna try again, but this time group yer shots over his spark. If that doesn't put him down I don't know what will.:: Jazz sent to the other two. ::One, two, thr-::

He never got a chance to finish his countdown before the strangled cry of the third mech blasted through the comm. channel. The monster of a Decepticon had launched himself a full mile and landed on the mech like he was nothing but a soft field of organic flowers.

Jazz swung around to open fire on the brute, but by the time he got himself around, the 'con had smashed one of his hands through Steelgrip's chest armor, and crushed his spark into nothing.

Jazz was suddenly left alone.

For the endless moment when Steelgrip's body fell to the ground, Jazz didn't move. The violet-optic Decepticon didn't move. They just stared at each other, although Jazz wasn't one hundred percent sure that the other mech could really _see_ him.

Jazz's processor raced to find a solution. There were now three of them, and only one of him, but even if it had only been him against just the crazed Decepticon, he knew he couldn't have won. He was just too strong. Or his processor was just too far gone that he didn't even notice that there were enough bullet holes in his chest to have put down Megatron himself.

Dead End and Swindle finally caught up with their companion. The more talkative Decepticon slanted a smug grin at the only surviving Autobot.

"Run Autobot scum." He muttered softly to the Autobot standing still before them. Jazz thought that the only word out there that could describe the look of the mech in front of him was feral.

"_Run_."

Jazz fishtailed out of there, his spark heavy. Behind him the two Decepticons still capable of thought, however meager, laughed at his retreat.

_"Slaggin' 'cons," _Jazz thought furiously, _"they haven't won yet."_

Jazz sped across the plains towards Iacon, not even caring that he had just run from a fight. Optimus needed to hear about this. _Now._

_..._

The Ground Bridge quickly became the only thing Nathanial could talk about. By the end of the next orbit, even Peg was highly annoyed with him.

Aria stood on an unused counter in Wheeljack's lab, the small framed form of Peg standing in front of her. Peg had moved down here a little while ago, tired of being left alone in that storage room now that her human was spending most of his time in here.

That, and she had neighed over and over again so loud that finally Ratchet had just _flung_ her down here, sick and tired of her noise.

"So what do you think of this Peggy Sue?" Aria asked as she slowly ran a hand down Peg's long nose. "You excited to go home too?"

_"I suppose,"_ Peg rumbled slowly.

Aria frowned at her a little. "You suppose? Don't you want to see your herd again?"

_"Well, yes, but I like it here." _Peg said with all of the bluntness of a child. _"Things are sharper, and it smells like the stables all the time. And that energon stuff is wonderful." _She said, her ears picking up. _"We don't have that back home."_

Aria made a face at her. "Really? I think it's nasty." She told her. _"Ah, the product of a misspent orbit and an overly curious Sideswipe."_ She thought to herself with a shudder.

_"I do miss grass though."_ Peggy added almost as an after thought a moment later.

Aria chuckled at her. "Yeah, me too, although I think it tastes just as good as energon."

Peg flicked one long ear back and glared slightly. _"Humans taste funny."_

Aria chuckled again. "You mean their taste _is_ funny." She amended.

Peg slanted a mischievous look at her. _"That too."_

Aria gave the fickle creature a nervous grin, but didn't back away from her. They fell silent as Aria looked across the room to where Nathanial and Wheeljack were talking in low and excited voices. Every so often one of them would gesture at the blueprints for the Ground Bridge that were spread out on the workshop table.

_"Well it's nice to see that __Wheeljack at least got over his prejudice."_ Aria thought, but her heart wasn't in it. So she sighed as she slowly ran her hand down Peg's nose again. She was happy for Nathanial, really she was, but she was miserable for herself. She just couldn't understand how he could want to leave Cybertron. Leave the mechs.

Leave her.

_"I guess some people really aren't cut out for life with robots."_ She thought sadly to herself.

Peg's soft, damp nose pressing into the palm of her hand brought Aria out of her thoughts. _"Don't hold it against him." _She said. Standing this close together it was impossible for her to miss what was running through Aria's head. _"My man is not very good with human mares. It's why he came to me."_

"You mean why he joined the cavalry?" Aria asked, somewhat curiously. After that one morning where he had been so tired he probably would have told her anything she asked him about, Nathanial hadn't exactly been forthcoming in information about his life on Atala.

Peg nodded her long head. _"Yes. So his mam couldn't pair him off with some empty headed filly."_

_"Mam?"_ Aria thought, confused for a moment. "Oh! You mean his mom."

Peg nodded her head a bit more irritably. _"Yes, that's what I said. His mam."_

A different thought occurred to Aria. "So…who was the filly?" She asked. "They weren't actually…engaged or anything, were they?" The thought that he might have a girlfriend had never even entered her mind before now.

Peg blew out a large sigh at Aria's sudden anxiety. _"You humans have such complicated words for everything. But no, he didn't promise anything to her, which is good, because she was sillier then a foal with new legs." _She said with an angry toss of her head. _"Her name was unimportant."_

Aria smiled nervously. "I guess you didn't like her all that much then, huh?"

Peg rolled a large black eye at her as if to say, "What do you think?"

_"She was too silly,"_ Peg said again crossly, _"but his mam is…unpleasant. She bites just because she can."_

Aria made a face. "Wonderful." She muttered as she reached a hand up to Peg's ear, where she liked to be rubbed.

Peg gave a blissful whuffle and half closed her large, dark eyes. _"The snake lady – that's what we call her in the stable where the riders can't hear – isn't well liked anywhere, but people do as she says anyway more often then not, although I do not understand why. She does not like to share her son, even though she isn't good to him. But I don't like to share either and he's mine now."_

Aria smiled at her. "Oh he is, is he?" She asked teasingly.

Peg opened her eyes again to look at Aria with an almost childishly innocent look. _"Yes. He is my rider and I am his mount. We were declared long ago and it can't be taken back."_ She said stubbornly.

Aria remembered the tether stone in Nathanial's neck and thought of the spark in her own chest and smiled gently at Peg. "I think I know what you mean."

Peg suddenly frowned into the middle ground. _"His mam came once, before he declared anything. She brought the silly girl with her. She wanted him to come back and marry, but he said no. The filly started to cry. It hurt my ears."_ Peg said, her voice showing just how much she had appreciated that.

"I'll have to remember never to cry around you then." Aria said.

When she spoke, Peg's eyes turned back to her, as if she was just remembering that the human was still there. _"The snake lady tried to take him away, but he wouldn't leave. She tried to make him, but she couldn't," _Peg said, proud of her human, _"She was very angry, but it didn't matter. She hasn't been back since."_ Peg said, quite happily. _"I still do not like her though."_ She added quietly a moment later.

Aria half smiled at the Equine. "I think I know what you mean. She sounds like a viper."

Peg nodded enthusiastically. _"Yes, yes! A snake in the grass. That's her. Only she wears a dress and scowls a lot."_

Aria laughed. "A snake in a dress huh? I'll have to watch out for her."

They fell silent again, Aria's hand moving unconsciously along the soft hair of Peg's nose.

A moment later, Peg nudged Aria's hand again. _"I did not like you before, though you are not a snake in a dress, but I like you now, because you like to fly, like me, so maybe,"_ she looked at Aria with wide innocent eyes,_ "maybe I share him with you."_ Peg told her quite seriously.

Aria threw back her head and laughed. "That's very kind of you Peggy, but don't you think you should ask Nathanial first?" She asked her, smiling widely at the very thought.

From the look on her face, it was clear Peg was wondering why she would do that. _"But he doesn't know anything about mares. Why else would he keep getting in trouble with them? No, **I** know best now."_

Aria smiled at Peg. "Oh of course. How could I ever doubt you?"

Peg shook her head. _"Because you are a silly human."_ She answered back.

"What are you ladies talking about over here?" Nathanial called out as he finally looked up from the blueprints. "You've been murmuring amongst yourselves for an awfully long time." He called out.

"I could very well ask you the same thing." Aria called back across the room.

One of Peg's ears flicked back in irritation. She didn't like beating around the bush, as the humans said, although why you would beat a bush was beyond her. _"We were talking about the snake in the dress." _She told him.

Nathanial looked over at her, confusion making his eyebrows draw together. "The what?" He called out.

"Nothing!" Aria called back, not really sure how he'd react if he found out who Peg was talking about.

A raised eyebrow said he clearly didn't believe them. "Uh-huh," he muttered as he briefly went back to the plans. But he was unable to focus now, so he made the long trek down the stairs, across the room, and up a different set of stairs onto the counter where the two femmes were standing. "You've been telling old stories about me haven't you Peggy Sue?" He asked his Equine as he came to stand on her other side, opposite Aria.

_"Yes."_ She said simply.

Nathanial rolled his eyes at her. "I suppose a lack of discretion is part of your Equine charm." He muttered as he frowned lightly at her.

_"Yes." _Peg said again, only cheerier, knowing it annoyed him.

Nathanial glowered at her mildly. "Thanks a lot." He grumbled, but ran a hand down Peg's back nonetheless. Peg just reveled in the attention of having two humans pet her at once.

"She feels like peach fuzz." Aria said lightly as she ran the back of her hand down Peg's cheek, enjoying the soft feel of Peg's black hair against her hand.

Peg's ears instantly pricked up. _"Peaches?"_ She demanded excitedly. _"Where? I want one!"_

Aria smiled apologetically at the Equine. "Sorry Peg, I didn't mean that we had any actual peaches, just that you felt like one."

Peg instantly drooped, ears falling sideways in a sulk. _"You shouldn't mention peaches if you don't have them."_ She groused, switching her tail in irritation.

Nathanial just chuckled at his steed as he reached over and grabbed what appeared to be an ordinary bag. "Then it's perfectly alright if I say 'apples' then?" He asked her, teasing.

Peg snapped her head up instantly, the thought of peaches promptly shoved out of her head by the more important thought of apples.

_"Red or purple?"_ Was all she said as she stared at Nathanial with large unblinking eyes.

Aria blinked at them. "Purple?" She asked, momentarily thrown.

Sure enough, Nathanial reached into the seemingly ordinary bag and pulled out a rustic, purple, apple.

Peg danced from foot to foot as she eyed the apple. _"Gimme! I've been good! I promise!"_

Nathanial laughed at her again and, after taking out the knife he still kept strapped to his leg, proceeded to cut the apple in two. He offered one half to the giddy Peg, and then cut off smaller pieces of the other half for himself.

He caught Aria staring at the strangely purple fruit as he was about to pop another piece into his mouth. "Oh I'm sorry," he apologized, "did you want some?"

Aria was still too speechless by the sight of a real apple (even if it _was_ purple) to answer, or even to notice that she was about to start drooling, so she nodded yes instead.

Nathanial raised an uncertain eyebrow at her. "Okay, here you go." He said, slowly holding out a slice of the apple to her.

Almost reverently, Aria took the little wedge. She stared at it in awe a moment before slowly putting in her mouth to savor it.

"Oh my merciful Lord in Heaven…" she mumbled as she chewed.

Nathanial wasn't sure what to make of this. "I, uh, I take it you've never eaten a purple apple before?" He asked her carefully.

Aria shook her head, smiling in utter bliss. "No, and I wouldn't care if it was pink on the inside. This is the first real food I've had in _ages!_" She told him, practically dancing in place as she finally swallowed. "Oh my gosh I forgot what apples even _tasted_ like."

Nathanial gave her an amused grin. "I take it you like it?"

Aria hopped giddily in place. "It's amazing!" She cried.

Nathanial laughed at her a little. "Here, take it, I've got plenty. Subspace is better at preserving food than an icehouse." He told her, holding out the rest of the apple.

Aria took it without a second thought. "Subspace?" She asked as she took a big bite out of the purple fruit. It reminded her of a mix between gala apples and blueberries. A gala blapple!

Aria laughed at herself and savored the taste of her blapple.

Nathanial shook the bag he had pulled the apple out of at her. Distantly she heard what sounded like a whole pantry being turned end over end. "Standard issue for Riders. That way we don't have to stop as often for supplies. That and it's much lighter then carrying even just one sack of apples around."

"Efficient." Aria mumbled around another bite.

"So if you haven't been eating real food all these vorns," Nathanial thought out loud a moment later as he watched Aria swing between dancing in place and eating, "what _have _you been living off of?"

"Mainly Wheeljack's nutrition bars." Aria said, pulling something out of her back pocket. "Here, you can try one if you like. If you don't get the Ground Bridge working quick enough you'll probably end up becoming all to familiar with them too." She said with a resigned breath out her nose.

Nathanial inspected the processed block. It was a neutral, uniform brown color and when he experimentally bent it in half, he found it had the flexibility of rubber.

Not at all sure this thing was even eatable, Nathanial took a hesitant bite.

And immediately spit it back out.

Aria laughed as he tried to wipe the 'nutrient bar' off of his tongue. "What the-!" He exclaimed, "how can you _stand_ that?" Nathanial spluttered as he quickly rifled through his supply bag for water. "My emergency ration bars taste better then that!"

Aria laughed at him again. "Well I used to think that most of my taste buds had just up and died, but now all I can say is that you get used to it eventually."

Nathanial looked horrified. "Really?" He asked.

Aria shrugged. "Eh." Was all she would say.

"Here," Nathanial said, suddenly grabbing three more apples out of his bag and shoving them in Aria's hands, "take them. Take all you want! Help yourself! It's a miracle that stuff hasn't killed you by now." He said, actually offended by the thought that she had been eating _that_ for who-knew-how-long.

Normally Aria would have refused, out of politeness sake if nothing else, but one look at the nutrition bar, and another at the dark purple apples in her arms and she just smiled at him.

"Thanks," she said with absolutely no argument.

She had just managed to stuff two of the apples into her pant's pockets, and taken a nice, big bite out of the only red one out of the three, when a sudden, hurried, clatter brought her up short.

Worriedly she searched the room for Wheeljack, but for once the noise hadn't come from him. Actually, he was still staring at the plans for the Ground Bridge on the other side of the room, a miraculously tool-free zone encircling him.

He looked up and met her gaze. "Don't look at me," he said with a shrug, "it came from out in the hall."

Aria met Nathanial's gaze and they both darted for the stairs. A bad feeling was beginning to grow in Aria's stomach, and she didn't think it was from the blapples.

Quickly, Aria dashed across the floor, Nathanial and Wheeljack close behind her. Peg just watched from her spot on the counter as Aria threw the human sized door open and stuck her head out into the hall.

"Jazz?" She called when she saw the silver bot trying to rush down the hall. His headlong race had been interrupted by a bucket getting stuck on his foot.

Aria's eyes went wide when she saw the numerous dents and cuts bleeding energon marring Jazz's armor. "What happened to you? Are you alright?" She demanded worriedly as she stepped out into the hall to get a better look at him. Then a much more horrifying thought occurred to her.

"Jazz," Aria asked softly, "where are the others?"

Jazz finally succeeded in kicking the bucket off of his foot. It bounced angrily down the hall behind him with a echoing clang. Jazz just turned to Aria grimly. "They're gone. All of 'em." He told her, face set with a dangerous calm, his shoulders stiff.

Aria gasped, her eyes flying wide open. "But-" She tried to say.

Jazz shook his head. "There's no time," he said urgently, which in and of itself would have worried Aria on any other orbit, "I've gotta talk to Optimus. _Now._" He stressed.

Aria pointed at the way behind her. "H-he was in the conference room last I knew." She managed to dredge up the information for him.

Jazz nodded quickly and then raced off down the hall, careful to avoid anymore stupid buckets.

The three left standing in the hall looked at each other worriedly. "What d'ya suppose happened now?" Wheeljack asked.

Aria found herself shaking her head. She had never seen Jazz act so serious, even in battle. If frightened her. _"All four of them, just gone…"_ her mind mumbled. She felt slightly numb.

"We need to find out," she heard herself say, and then without looking back to see if the other two were following her, Aria took off down the hall after Jazz.


	12. Chapter 12: The Unthinkable

n_n Hello again! Hope you all had a Happy Easter (if you celebrate Easter that is). Ours was a little eventful because we managed to lose a real egg in the living room and the, ahem, 'Easter Bunny' can't remember where he (or she if it was Mom) hid it. My kid sister was unhappy because it was one she painted to look like a scraplet from the TF: Prime show (which oddly enough turned out to be much better then I thought it would be. When I first saw Prime without his battle mask I ended up, well, laughing...)

Anyway, good weekend. Hope yours was too. And now! Onto the next chapter! Are things made clearer? Slightly. Are things looking up? Well, not really...But will you love it? Uh...hopefully? n_n; Hmm...I guess this story _is_ a bit more depressing then the first one...but don't worry! I can't stand miserable endings. So in the end things get better...eventually...

Amazing thanks go out to all my reviewers of course! I love you guys! And le Gasp! You've made it to over _100 REVIEWS! _*Light appears from nowhere and a choir starts singing* Hallelujah! And I know I've said this for like, the past three weeks in a row, but I am going to answer you back! Like, right now! *Looks into a mirror and scowls* And I do mean right now, right self? *nods* Right. Okay, let's get this show on the road! Love you all and enjoy!

...

The Long Road Home

12 – The Unthinkable – 12

"I'm tellin' ya this was not a normal 'con!"

Jazz's uncharacteristic shout echoed slightly in the crowded conference room. He was sitting stiffly on the edge of the table, Ratchet dealing with his numerous, but thankfully shallow, injuries. The charts and reports he had displaced where piled up at the other end now, making it difficult for Aria to see.

Frustrated, Aria frowned at the part of Jazz's head that she could actually see before looking around for somewhere higher up where she could see what was going on. 'Bee must have seen her looking because he silently held out a hand to her and jerked his head over at a clear space of shelf along the wall. Nodding her thanks, Aria climbed on, and then turned back for Nathanial. The man had followed her down here, along with Wheeljack. Now both mechs were listening to Jazz with the same kind of horrid fascination Aria felt curling up deep in her stomach. She had to shake his shoulder just to get his attention. He gave 'Bee's offered hand an unhappy look, but didn't have time to feel offended before Aria hauled him up next to her.

"Are you sure it wasn't just another gladiator?" Prowl asked, sticking to Holcomb's Razor like glue. "Perhaps one of Megatron's top fighters instead of-"

"Just another one of those rustin' gladiators couldn'ta taken out four of my mechs single handedly in his _dreams_!" Jazz yelled, not even letting his old friend finish speaking.

Everyone froze. From her new spot on the shelf, Aria stared at him with wide, blue eyes. Jazz never yelled, not even when Sunny and Sides had glued all of the furniture in his room to the ceiling. He had laughed and strapped himself to the recharge berth so he could just sleep up there. If this one 'con had unsettled him so much…

Aria didn't even want to think about what that meant.

All Prowl could say was, "We don't dream Jazz." He turned away stiffly, but Aria couldn't tell if it was because he was as unsettled by Jazz's uncharacteristic attitude as she was or if he was just offended at being cut off like that.

Jazz just ran a hand along his helm and stared at the floor without seeing it.

From where he stood next to Prowl, Prime narrowed his optics at Jazz. "Tell us what happened again. Starting from when the Decepticons first appeared." He directed him calmly.

From her higher vantage point, Aria saw the brief, haunted, look on Jazz's face before it was replaced with a calm, determined, mask.

"There were three of 'em. Swindle, Dead End, and th'one I didn't recognize. They came over the ridge without warning. Dead End and Swindle engaged us first, but then that last one hurled two of my team into the conduit like they were fraggin' marshmallows!"

The other mechs present repressed shudders, as much as from the thought of those horrible, deceiving little marshmallows as at the knowledge that there was a Decepticon out there that could throw good sized mechs around like they were weightless.

"The rest of us transformed and hit the road. I waited before we had a good lead on 'im before we spun round and hit 'im…" he trailed off.

They all waited a moment for him to go on. "And?" Optimus prompted when it was clear Jazz's mind was now somewhere else.

Jazz snapped back into the present. "And it didn't work! _Nothing_ worked. It was like the stupid glitch couldn't feel nuthin'." He told them heatedly.

Ratchet looked up from where he was cleaning one of Jazz's injuries. "Perhaps Shockwave found a way to make it so that they can't feel pain at all. That would certainly make it easier for them to press an advantage, even if they're bleeding out right there." He told Optimus.

But Jazz shook his head. "No, that wasn't all there was to it Ratch'. There was sumthin' off about this guy. Sumthin'…just plain _evil_." He pressed.

"They're 'cons," Ironhide spoke up from where he stood with his arms crossed over his broad chest; "They're all evil."

"Well this was worse!" Jazz snapped, turning around to glare at the gruff, black mech.

Ratchet lightly whacked him upside the head and told him to hold still.

"He was more then just powerful," Jazz said slowly a moment later, after thinking through what to say, "He was mad with it. Like he was drunk on feelin' invincible. It was like lookin' at Unicron himself when you saw how violet and furious his optics were." He shuddered at the memory, but was otherwise still.

Aria was snapped out of her worry for Jazz and her overall fear of what this all might mean when she felt Nathanial stiffen next to her.

"What is it?" She asked him softly. His face was suddenly drawn and his hands were balled into fists. He looked like he had just been punched in the gut.

He couldn't even look at her. "Violet is a bad color…" he mumbled.

Aria didn't pretend to understand what he meant. She didn't have time to ask him about it either as Optimus started talking again.

"I want Mirage to look into this. See if he can't get close enough to the Decepticons to learn what is going on." He ordered calmly.

Prowl nodded sharply. "Done."

Prime looked around the room, his optics flicking around to each mech present. He even looked at Aria briefly.

"I want you all on your guards." He said, his voice booming in the small space. "From the sound of things, this mech is more dangerous then the usual Decepticon. And something tells me that this is not an isolated instance. Be on the watch for anything strange in battle, and I mean anything."

He looked around the room again, pausing briefly at each face. "You all know you're assignments. Dismissed."

The cluster of officers broke up, moving off towards the door to return to their work, but Aria saw that the news weighed heavily on each of them.

Over at the head of the table, Optimus laid a heavy hand on Jazz's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he told him, his voice low. Jazz stared at him a moment, a brief tangle of emotion squirming in his spark for a moment, but he roughly shoved it away. He didn't know what to say, so he just nodded instead.

"Yeah," he muttered.

From her spot on the shelf, Aria watched them, a deep feeling of loss starting to eat at her spark-heart. _"Things weren't bad enough already?"_ She asked herself dejectedly. _"They had to get __**worse**__?"_

But she was shaken out of her misery by Nathanial suddenly turning next to her. She looked up to see him walking towards the far end of the shelf, heading who-only-knew where.

"Hey!" She called after him. "What are you doing?"

Nathanial stopped, but didn't turn around to face her, just threw a quick glance at her over his shoulder. Aria noticed he was suddenly stiff with tension, like one wrong look would make him snap.

"Nowhere. Just going to see Peg. I need to feed her." He told her.

Aria felt her eyebrows furrow at the flat, emotionless quality to his voice now. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that he almost sounded…guilty.

But she quickly shook her head, writing it off as the trauma from Jazz's news. "Well okay, just let me-" she started to say.

"I'd like to see her alone," he cut her off, but then threw her an apologetic look over his shoulder, "please." He added, voice more subdued.

Aria thought about it. A little part of her – the overly sane, rational, Prowl-like part of her mind that was hardly ever bothered with emotion – was amazed that he was taking this new development so hard. He had only been here a few orns after all and wasn't really on stellar terms with any of the bots, although she had noticed he had formed more than a few tight acquaintances.

_"But then, he's on fairly good speaking terms with Mirage, Hound, and Jazz. That must be it."_ She thought slowly to herself, finding it difficult to think at all with the aching feeling in her chest.

"Yeah, sure," she finally said, and then added with a wilted laugh, "if you're harboring secrets then I guess I can always get Peg to spill later." She tried to tease. She failed.

Nathanial nodded, but she could tell he wasn't really listening to her. "Thanks Aria." He said quietly before walking over to the edge of the shelf and looking around for a way down that wouldn't end up killing him.

He gave a frustrated sigh when he realized there was none. "And how am I supposed to get down from here?" He demanded, voice rising slightly.

Aria looked over at 'Bee standing across the room and saw the same surprise spring into his optics at Nathanial's sudden break in composure. The yellow mech came over without a word and went to hold his hand out for the human, but stopped when he remembered the look Nathanial had given it earlier. Not sure what to do he made to scoop the new human up before drawing his hand back, thinking that would be just as bad. He gave Aria a brief, clueless look before awkwardly grabbing Nathanial as carefully as he could and gently lowering him to the floor.

Under any other circumstances, Aria would have laughed at the way Nathanial's arms hung awkwardly over 'Bee's large hand, but at the moment she really didn't feel like laughing at anything, even if a parade of pink elephants just suddenly paraded past in tutus and miniature umbrellas.

Nathanial shot Bumblebee a sharp look to show just how much he appreciated being picked up like a rag doll, but he didn't say anything before he walked stiffly out the door.

Bumblebee bridled slightly as he walked back over to his sister. "Well you're welcome," he grumbled.

Aria resisted a sigh. "Oh don't be like 'Bee. You know he's weird about being picked up." She said, suddenly feeling weary. She was tired of this line that had been drawn between Nathanial and her mechs. They both had valid points, but in the end she thought they were both being stupid.

Bumblebee looked over at his sister, optics clearing slightly. "Well I don't see what his problem is. How else was I supposed to get him down?" He asked, but didn't leave enough time for an answer as he frowned thoughtfully at Aria. "_You _were never weird about us picking you up." He said.

Aria's laugh escaped before she realized it was even there. Maybe she had some laughter left in her after all. "Yeah, that _you_ know of. The first time Optimus offered me to carry me anywhere I just about passed out. I used to _hate_ heights."

'Bee blinked at her, his usual wide-eyed look returning to its proper place. "Really?" He asked in surprise.

Aria nodded, grinning a little. "Yeah, I fell out a window once back home and broke my leg. It took me a long while to get used to going upstairs again, much less being picked up by you guys."

Bumblebee took a klik to process this. "Oh," he finally said, since there wasn't really an answer to his sister's confession. "Well, I have to go find Ironhide so…" he held out his hands in invitation.

Aria slid down to sit in the hollow of her _di di_'s cupped hands. With a sigh, she leaned back against his curled up fingers and closed her eyes. _"All four of them, just gone…"_ she thought again.

Feelings of comfort and understanding suddenly surrounded her, making Aria feel loved. She wasn't sure if she wanted to cry and smile more because of it.

She opened her eyes to see Bumblebee watching her with wide optics as he gave one worried click. "You okay Jie Mei?" He asked her, sounding very young all of a sudden.

Aria nodded and tried to rub away the tears that had started to form in her eyes as unobtrusively as possible, although this close to him she knew it was pretty useless to try and hide them.

"Yeah," she said and then again, more convincing, "yeah, I'm alright. I'm just-" she couldn't find a word to describe how she felt about what they had just heard.

Bumblebee's optics flicked to the floor and then back to Aria. "Yeah," he said softly enough that Aria knew he understood what she meant.

Without a word, Bumblebee curled his fingers tighter around his sister and pulled her close to him. Over the years they had found that it was as close to a hug as they could get.

"Don't worry Jie Mie," he whispered to her, "it'll be okay."

Aria nodded where she huddled against his cheek and enjoyed the feeling of being wrapped up in her brother's certainty.

"Thanks _di di_." She murmured when she pulled back a moment later.

Bumblebee just nodded and gave her a smile as they left the room.

...

They found Val waiting in the hall outside. He was looking down the hall away from them, one hand on his hip, fingers drumming impatiently as he waited. As they stepped out of the room behind him, Aria saw him shake his head as he made an irritated noise in the back of his vocal processor.

"No wonder Primus sent Jie Mei here first," they heard him mutter as they got close to him, "If he'd sent the mech first we woulda squished him before we even figured out what he was."

"That's just cuz any kind of femme, no matter what the species, is always better." Aria spoke up loudly once they were right behind the other mech.

Val spun around, reminding Aria of a cartoon cat that had gotten a bucket of water thrown on him. She bit her lip to try and hold in her giggles as Val frowned at her.

"That wasn't funny Jie Mei." He told her.

Aria beamed at him. "Of course it was." She said perkily, trying to ignore the intent look Val was now giving her. Without saying anything he leaned down to peer at her. "And it's true besides." She said less certainly as she leaned away from him, wondering what he was staring at her for.

But Val just kept on peering at her. "You okay Jie Mei? Your eyes look red." He said worriedly, then he suddenly went rigid. "Did that organic mech make you leak?" He asked angrily, shooting another look down the hall after Nathanial.

Aria had been with them so long that her brain automatically processed 'leak' as 'cry'. "No." She said sternly, frowning slightly as she swiped at her eyes again. She didn't look _that_ teary eyed did she? "'Bee and I were just talking about…stuff." She told him with a tiny glare, not wanting to start in on her fears and all around insecurities at the moment.

Val huffed as if he thought that maybe she was just protecting the new human. "Well I still don't like him." Val grumbled as he glared in the direction Nathanial had disappeared down.

Aria rolled her eyes. _"Oh brother…"_ she thought, pun totally intended. "I noticed," she said flatly instead, "although _why_ completely escapes me." She understood 'Bee's problem with him, to a limited extent, but Val didn't have his excuse. For a reason Aria's femme mind was incapable of understanding, he just didn't like the man.

Val's optics flew over to her and he instantly went on the defensive. "Because!" He all but shouted. "He's always starin' at you funny and following you around everywhere. It's creepy!"

Aria hung her head. "Val _I'm_ following _him_ around. I'm _supposed _to do that. Optimus _told_ me to keep an eye on him." She told him as clearly as she could.

Bumblebee looked between his sister and his friend somewhat nervously. They were both stubborn as Pit, but they had been very close ever since Val's guardian, Treads, had been killed and Aria had stepped in to take care of Val when he was little. They didn't fight very often, but when they did, well…everyone tended to stay out of their way for a few orbits until they made up.

"Well I hate to break it to you Jie Mei, but if that's your job you're sort of failing right now." 'Bee quickly spoke up, hoping to keep things from getting worse in the very near future.

Aria looked up at the mech holding her. "Huh? Oh, no Mirage is probably watching him now. This is generally when we switch off."

"Uh, Jie Mei?" Bumblebee said slowly as he pointed at the mech coming up the hall behind her and Val. "You're still failing."

With some surprise, Aria and Val turned to see the blue and white mech approaching them.

"Mirage?" Aria asked as he got close. "What are you doing? Where's Nathanial?"

Mirage motioned over his shoulder the way he'd come. "With his creature in Wheeljack's laboratory. I asked Alpha Trion to keep an optic on him until I return and he agreed. He should be there now if you want to talk to him Aria. I was simply giving the organic mech some warning, let him know he wasn't home free just because I wasn't around to keep an optic on him." He told her.

Val rolled his optics and gave a huff of harsh laughter as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Give him some warning," he grumbled, "I'd like to give him some warning of what's gonna happen to him if he keeps making those funny organic eyes at my sister." He groused, sounding more like an old mother hen than a powerful Autobot solider.

Aria glanced up and met Mirage's optics. She could see he looked just as annoyed as she felt, only instead of shaking his head and sighing like she did, Mirage reached out and grabbed Val by the shoulder guard. Then with a strength that most mechs forgot he had, Mirage shoved the younger mech back until his back was pressed against the wall.

"Hey!" Val said in surprise. He obviously hadn't expected that. A split second later he glared when the older mech didn't let him go. "What're you doing?" He demanded.

"Reminding you of your manners." Mirage said coolly, meeting Val's angry optics with his own level ones.

Val struggled briefly, but quickly gave up when he realized it was useless. That and no matter how hot-headed he was, he still didn't like the idea of getting into a throw down with another Autobot. Well, outside of sparring practices anyway, or if Fastlane started it…

"Yeah?" Val snapped instead. "Well what do you even care? He's just some creepy organic mech that just showed up out of nowhere. He's not even supposed to _be _here." The realization that his older sister was an organic suddenly whacked him upside the head. "Uh, no offense Jie Mei." He tacked on with a wary look down at Aria still in Bumblebee's hands.

Aria just crossed her arms over her chest, shifted her weight to one foot, and gave Val a flat look. "Don't drag me into this." Was all she told him.

"And besides," Val opened his mouth a klik later when Mirage didn't say anything. "You don't even like other _bots_, much less other _species_. What do you even care what happens to him?" He asked crossly.

Aria shot a worried look at Mirage, wondering how he'd react to Val's clumsy prodding at the older mech's all around anti-socialness. She knew her brother hadn't meant anything by it, and she had a good idea Mirage knew it too, but she worried over what he would _do_ about it.

Mirage took it better then Aria had thought he would.

The blue and white mech smiled levelly at the younger mech, instantly making him nervous because Val had never seen him smile before at anything. "How about because it's my aft on the line and if you flatten him into an organic pancake, _I _will be the one in trouble." Mirage said, sounding almost peppy as he stared at Val, and then gave 'Bee a look just for good measure. "So don't flatten him. Understand?"

Both young mechs had enough presence of mind to nod.

Mirage grinned a little wider. "Good," he said simply, but then added almost as an afterthought, "and on the contrary kid I happen to like the rest of you lot, even though you can be an uncouth bunch of ruffians more often than not." And with that he took a step back, releasing Val. The brown mech looked a bit stupefied at Mirage's parting words and he shot Bumblebee a questioning look.

Mirage gave Aria a look of his own and she did her best not to laugh at the smug little grin she saw hiding in the corner of his mouth. And they said the stiff mech had no sense of humor, she inwardly laughed, although it helped that her boys were just too easy to fluster at times.

_"I swear they're worse then hens." _She thought as she gave a small shake of her head at them.

"So," Aria said to Mirage after a moment of silence, "you heading out soon then?"

Mirage's face became somber as he nodded. "Now, actually." He told her. "Prime wants to find out what's going on as soon as possible."

Aria felt her eyebrows inch closer together slightly and she nodded. "Right," she mumbled, more to herself then the others, but then she looked up at the reserved blue and white mech and added louder. "Just make sure you come back in one piece alright?"

Mirage looked down at her, on the brink of feeling insulted at the implied statement that he didn't do that anyway, but stopped when he caught sight of Aria's worried blue optics staring up at him intently. She wasn't trying to browbeat him. She just wanted to hear him say he'd be careful, that he'd come back in the same, single, piece that he left.

_"I really am a sucker for a pair of big, blue optics - organic or otherwise." _He thought, remembering something Jazz had told him once when he was trying to bait him over something or another.

Aria's blue eyes brought back memories of other, more familiar, optics, and of time back before the war, when life had been well ordered and distinctly in his favor and all it had taken were a few promises to erase the worry in those familiar optics.

Back when all it had taken was someone else's prejudice to erase them from his life altogether.

A broken grin pulled at Mirage's faceplates and he found himself back in the present, shaking his head at Aria. "Like you say femme." He told her, sounding like he didn't care one way or the other about what she said, although the little human was perceptive enough to know that wasn't true. She had caught that faraway look in his optics, even if the other two hadn't.

Aria sat back slightly in Bumblebee's hands, feeling a little reassured, although not altogether comforted. But she knew it was the best she was going to get. For some weird reason, it helped that he reminded her a little of Han Solo right then too.

A withdrawn silence followed Mirage's words.

He broke it with a self-conscious clearing of his vocal processor. "Right, now don't break my organic while I'm gone." He told them stiffly, falling back on his usual reserve.

Val gave a sulky huff. "Go figure," he grumbled, not really talking to anyone now, "the first friend he makes and it's that irritating _organic_."

Aria caught the look on Mirage's face and immediately clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter. He looked positively _mortified_ at the comment on his social life and she was sure that if he'd been human he would have turned bright, neon red as a result.

But he wasn't human, so he activated his cloak and instantly winked out of sight instead.

Bumblebee and Val looked at each other a klik, and then burst out laughing at the spy's less than dignified exit.

Aria ignored them of course and looked around the hall as if she could just suddenly spot Mirage walking away from them, but as far as she could see, there was no one else around.

She knew he was still nearby though, so she just leaned over Bumblebee's finger and shouted, "Good luck Mirage!" down the hall she thought he had gone down.

She waited a moment, but if there was some sort of answer, she couldn't hear it over Bumblebee and Val's uproarious laughter.

"Ah, cut it out you guys!" She frowned up at them, but they didn't listen and just kept on laughing.

Aria rolled her eyes at them and sat back against 'Bee's large fingers. She made sure to shoot them stern looks to show what she thought of their amusement, but she couldn't keep it up for long and instead ended up smiling a little where they couldn't see.

_"Maybe he's got a friend here after all,"_ she thought to herself before giving one loud laugh, _"although I'm not sure who I'm more surprised at; Nathanial or Mirage!"_


	13. Chapter 13: Dropping Eaves

n_n! Yay! Finished reading through the chapter, made some small corrections, and ta-da! It's posting time! I hope you guys like this one (as I always hope come to think of it) but I have some decently lifted hopes seeing as we get some more action in this one. Anyway, I've got a class to get to and a big project due tomorrow that I've only just started on, so I'm going to pull a disappearing act right about...now. *Poof!*

^..^ *Wait for it.*

*reverse Poof!* Oh, and I just wanted to add the small note that this is still grounded in the universe of the TF book - Transformers: Exodus. Good book, go read it. Uh, but maybe not if you don't want to have any ideas about how this story ends up. But still, read it later! It's very good.

And of course thank yous go out to all my reviewers, cuz you guys are all awesome! You've sent me 114 reviews! Did you know that? Well I certainly noticed. It's AMAZING! THANK YOU! Oh, and sorry if I didn't get around to answering any questions or comments and things...again. Sorry! n_n; Just know that each and every one is appreciated monumentally! I don't know if I would have gotten this far without them, or you guys. So thanks again!

And now I really must poof away. Enjoy the lengthy chapter!

...

The Long Road Home

13 – Dropping Eaves – 13

Aria finally gave up on 'Bee and Val and decided to go see how Nathanial was doing with Alpha Trion by herself a few minutes later.

"They're such _boys_," she muttered to herself as she walked, but she said it fondly even as she frowned at the memory of their outrageous laughter. "It wasn't even that funny."

She remembered the look on Mirage's face and immediately had to bite back a grin. "Okay, it was pretty funny. But they shouldn't have laughed like that. I _know _I taught them better. Though the Wreckers probably aren't the best influence on things like this…" she trailed off, thoughtfully looking up at the ceiling as she wound her way down to Wheeljack's lab.

Soon enough her thoughts changed course. "They won't be able to work on the Ground Bridge for awhile now. They won't have time." She reflected out loud. "Everyone'll be too busy trying to figure out what the Decepticons are up to now…" she trialed off, her steps slowing slightly without her realizing it. It was a question she would have given almost anything to know the answer to. But she didn't have it, and there was nothing she could do that wasn't already being done to get it.

She felt her mind drifting back into the abysmal thundercloud of misery and helplessness, but fortunately she reached the open door of Wheeljack's lab before it could fully zap her again.

"_You're_ my new warden?"

Aria gave herself a little shake as she stopped just outside the door, out of sight of the trio in the room. She frowned slightly as Nathanial's loud disbelief registered in her mind.

The man's words were followed by Alpha Trion's aged chuckle. "Yes, of a sorts. Generally I don't do favors like this, but you are a very peculiar case my small friend."

Even though she still couldn't see him, Aria practically felt Nathanial's bafflement. "T-thank you?" He eventually managed to say.

Peg didn't sound near as unsure about their new watcher as her human did. _"Masters' Master!"_ She cried excitedly. If Aria peered around the open doorway just so, she could make out the silly creature dancing giddily from hoof to hoof as she stared at old Alpha Trion, totally entranced by his very presence.

Aria frowned at her in confusion. _"Masters' Master?"_ She mouthed.

Alpha Trion looked over at Peg for the first time and chuckled again. "I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about strange little Peg, but I can't say I don't like the sound of it." Even though his back was to her, Aria suddenly knew he was peering more intently at Peg as she danced on the table top, straining at the line that connected her halter to the wall. But before he could come to any sort of understanding about her, Peg gave a disgruntled rumble in her chest and firmly planted her back hooves in the hastily made anchor for her halter line.

The thing gave way instantly and Peg bolted off the table before Nathanial could shout so much as, "Peg-!"

Aria watched from the door as Peg quickly transformed and took a literally flying leap off of the table. She spread her wings before she had dropped more than a few feet. Then with a powerful _swoosh_ she shot upwards and Aria felt herself grin as the strange creature wheeled around Alpha Trion's head, beyond pleased with him.

"Ah," the old mech finally said a klik later in realization, "you must be the curious techno-organic I heard of recently. Gave our little Aria quite a scare didn't you?"

Aria hung her head in a hand as Peg landed somewhat gracefully on Alpha Trion's broad shoulder. Would they _never_ let her live that down?

Peg, however, was too busy nosing Alpha Trion's face plates to look ashamed of herself. _"Yes,"_ she said shortly,_ "but we're okay now. I've decided that I like her after all. And I _know_ I like you masters' Master, so you should not worry about me."_ She told him plainly.

Aria heard Alpha Trion laugh before he held out a large finger to Peg, who of course stepped on without thought. Beyond them, Aria saw Nathanial groan and turn in an anxious circle as he ran an anxious hand through his hair.

Alpha Trion ignored him as he carefully held the creature out in front of him to inspect her. Aria managed to hold in her laugh. Standing like that, Peg looked more like some strange, four-legged bird rather then a horse.

"Hmm…" the mech hummed a moment later, "you are a very curious specimen Equine Peg. But then, your ancestral creator had a very interesting view of the world." He told her knowingly.

Peg nodded her large head up and down. _"Oh yes, yes, I know. I am connected to the piece of Master Nexus' that he left behind for us, just as all Equines are connected to it. It is how I know you and how my human knows you."_

Aria frowned at that and looked back over at Nathanial. He did indeed look like he recognized Alpha Trion as more then just another Cybertronian, but he also didn't look very happy that Peg had just up and decided to tell Alpha Trion that either.

_"Well at least that would explain why he flipped out the day Bumblebee and the others got back, but so what?"_ Aria asked herself,_ "What's the big deal with him and Alpha Trion? He's just another mech, albeit a very _old_ one…"_

Aria's thoughts were cut off by said _old_ mech's thoughtful, "Ah…" She noticed he didn't exactly sound pleased to be recognized either.

For a split second the three biped figures receded into their thoughts, the mechs thinking on how to proceed with this new intrusion into their 'normalcy' and Aria just wondering what was so special about a bot that kept up _records_ for a living.

Peg, of course, was blatantly oblivious to all of this. _"You are like me."_ She told the old mech, breaking the slight silence as she blinked her large, dark eyes at him. When Aria managed to focus on the black Equine again, she saw Peg lip at Alpha Trion's cheek almost as though she recognized something in him that was identical to something in her.

_"Almost like he's part of her herd."_ Aria thought as she bit back a grin. It was fun thinking like Peg.

Alpha Trion brought himself out of his internal thought process and chuckled at her, his earlier humor returning. "No little one," he told her patiently, like you would say to a small child, "rather _you _are like _me_." He told her.

Peg simply blinked again. _"Does it matter?"_ She asked him.

Alpha Trion shrugged the shoulder Peg wasn't standing on. "Perhaps not little one, but for now we _do_ have more pressing matters to discuss, such as the terms of our little acquaintance, human Nathanial." Alpha Trion turned towards Nathanial as he walked over and carefully re-deposited Peg on the table next to her man.

Aria zoned out as the mech told Nathanial when he wanted him to check in with him. _"I still don't get it," _she thought as she leaned back against the doorjamb _"why Alpha Trion? Why doesn't he freak out whenever he seems Optimus? He's the Prime after all. And Nathanial recognize that too, so what's he see in Alpha Trion that makes him go all nervous like this every time he lays eyes on him?"_

She couldn't think of an immediate answer, and she was soon distracted by Nathanial's slightly raised, if not overly respectful, voice. "Out of your element?" He stuttered in disbelief, answering something Alpha Trion had just said. "Forgive me if I am wrong sir, but wasn't war your original element? It is not something one easily forgets." He said point blank before he could rethink his words.

Aria felt her eyebrows furrow closer together. _"Alpha Trion was made for war? But he doesn't fight..."_

She watched more carefully now, not wanting some hint to the mystery to slip past her, but even then it would have been impossible for her not to notice the way Nathanial stiffened. His eyes went wide, just a tiny bit, as he watched the old mech, caught like a fish on a hook.

Aria leaned around the doorjamb a little more, but it was no use. She couldn't see what Alpha Trion was doing that made Nathanial stiffer then a corpse.

Not even a moment passed, but it felt like forever before she noticed an almost ancient kind of stiffness evaporate from Alpha Trion's frame and he returned to his normal self.

"I am afraid I don't quite understand what you are talking about human Nathanial," the old mech told him, "but I was not born solely for fighting. I was born old, organic mech, and when you're born old, you tend to do things like sit behind desks and write records in books rather then draw swords against mighty opponents." He pointed out.

Aria noticed that Nathanial didn't dare argue this time.

"And since we're on the subject of records," Alpha Trion said, going on as if nothing mildly threatening had just passed between him and the new human, "you probably already know that I am the one that keeps track of who is in the city at what time. I do hope I will not have to mark your absence any time soon, human Nathanial."

Aria couldn't help but think that Alpha Trion was speaking in some sort of code.

Nathanial hesitated slightly, but then nodded sharply, more military like than Aria had seen him before. _"Like Alpha Trion's suddenly his commander or something." _She thought.

"Of course, understood." The other human snapped crisply.

Alpha Trion had a smile in his voice when he spoke next. "Good, I had hoped you would. Contrary to what some of the younglings think, I don't really want you to disappear on us just yet. It might leave us in somewhat of a lurch." He said with a laugh that Aria did not understand, and did not try to. It _was_ Alpha Trion after all.

Nathanial obviously didn't know how to respond to that because all he said was, "Of course, sir."

For the first time since Aria had started spying on them, a touch of genuine annoyance crept into the old mech's frame. "My name is Alpha Trion, not 'sir', and you will address me as such, just like everybody else." He relaxed slightly. "There's no sense getting all formal on me now, human Nathanial. Agreed?"

Nathanial fidgeted slightly, but became no less rigid. "Yes, Alpha Trion."

Aria thought it was a miracle he didn't stumbled over Alpha Trion's name, he was so stiff.

She heard Alpha Trion smile at the two on the table, as easily as any old man from Earth. "Good. Now behave for our little Aria, and that goes double for you little miss." He said, mock stern, as he wagged a finger at Peg.

Peg just nodded her large head up and down and then gave him the Equine equivalent of a grin.

Alpha Trion smiled at her. "That's my good girl." He said as he turned to leave. Aria dived out of sight of the door as he did, so she did not see the glimmer of an ancient life come to the front of Alpha Trion's wise, old optics, just as it had done a moment before when he had had his back to her.

She did, however, hear him speak over his shoulder at Nathanial in a voice too nonchalant to be sincere. "Oh, and about the other orbit," the old mech slowly turned back to the human before he had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, "do you mind telling me why you suddenly felt the need to throw yourself to the floor when I appeared?"

_"Trick question!" _Something in Aria's mind yelled, but when she thought about it, she wasn't sure why the thought just jumped into her head like that. She peered around the corner again just in time to see Nathanial open his mouth. But then he stopped, and quickly closed it again.

Aria looked up at Alpha Trion and with a slight gasp saw the sharp way he was staring at the other human, almost as if he was warning him. _"This isn't to see if Nathanial knows who he is," _she realized with astonishment, _"it's to see if he can keep his mouth shut about it."_

Aria thought about this and then sighed in resignation. _"Well there goes my chance of getting Nathanial to explain what the heck's going on. Maybe Peg'll know…"_

Aria thought that Nathanial must have realized the same thing she had because she saw him swallow down his first answer with some difficulty. "It," he said tentatively, "it was nothing. I mistook you for someone else." He told him carefully.

For a klik the look of warning hovered behind the mech's blue optics, keeping Nathanial firmly glued to his spot on the table. But then, thankfully, the danger receded, and Alpha Trion reverted back into the old mech that Aria knew and loved, the one that was just like any other that had been around too long and seen too much.

"Yes, I thought you might have." He answered simply, giving the human a small smile of approval. "Now I expect to see you later in the orbit," he said pointing a stern finger at him, "And for pity's sake give that creature some exercise. If she sits around any longer she'll waste away to nothing, and nobody wants that, now do they?" He asked rhetorically with a sympathetic look at Peg. Then he added almost as an afterthought, "Just be sure to stay indoors. Primus knows they're big enough for the pair of you." He murmured.

Nathanial shook his head, dumbfounded, as Aria reflected on how difficult it would be to get Peg to keep to the 'indoors' part of that order. "Thank you si-I mean, Alpha Trion."

Peg for her part just looked up at Alpha Trion with wide, hopeful eyes. _"You mean I get to fly? Really fly?"_ She asked, her whispery voice practically breathless with hope.

Alpha Trion chuckled at her again. "Yes little miss. I'm saying you can fly."

Peg suddenly bucked for joy. _"You're letting me fly! You're letting me fly!"_ She shrieked over and over. Even Nathanial smiled now at this unexpected gift.

With another nod, Alpha Trion turned and left the room. He didn't look down at Aria standing just outside the door, but she knew that he knew she was there.

She didn't say anything as she caught up with him. "What was that about?" She asked stubbornly.

But her determined question just slid off of Alpha Trion's usual mild cheer like water off of a duck's back. "Oh, nothing, just a conversation." He told her jauntily.

Aria slanted a look up at the mech, her mouth thinning and pulling down at one corner. "That sure didn't sound like any conversation I've ever heard before." She grumbled.

Alpha Trion smiled down at her. "That's just because you've never heard any one-sided conversations before. They're quite fun, almost like decoding a puzzle." He told her, sounding far too happy for Aria's liking.

The walked on a little farther in silence, Aria watching Alpha Trion out of the corner of her eyes and Alpha Trion pretending not to notice.

"You know why he freaks out every time he sees you, don't you?" She finally asked the old mech flatly.

Alpha Trion stopped and grinned at her in what she could only think to call a mischievous manner. "Perhaps…" he told her slowly.

One of Aria's brown eyebrows rose when he didn't say anything else. "Care to share the answer with the rest of the class?"

But Alpha Trion just laughed quietly and patted her on the head with a large finger before walking on. "No, not particularly." Then with something like a cheery little whistle, he stepped around the corner of the intersecting hallway and disappeared out of sight.

Aria frowned after him, not really appreciating the whole patronizing head pat thing.

"Well thanks for nothin'," she mumbled under her breath before turning around and heading back to look in on Nathanial and Peg.

...

Over the next few orbits, reports poured in from every corner of Autobot held territory, and almost all of them had to do with mechs that wouldn't stay down, that apparently couldn't feel, and that had gleaming _violet_ optics.

"This is fraggin' ridiculous," Ironhide said angrily as he, Prowl, Optimus, and a newly-okayed-by-Ratchet Jazz tried to make some sense of the reports Mirage had steadily been sending them, along with the mix-mash of others sent anywhere from Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers stationed up along the turbulent border near Kalis, to the decimated mountainous region where the few seekers on the Autobot's side had been posted.

Prowl gave a nod to show he agreed with Ironhide, even though his optics never left the datapads scattered across the table. "Whatever it is that's making the 'cons act this way, it seems to be spreading, or at least they're giving it out to more and more of them."

From where he stood leaning over the table, Optimus Prime narrowed his optics thoughtfully, internally going over the limited information they had at the moment.

Mirage had managed to get, undiscovered, into Kaon – the stronghold of Decepticon activity – but none of the foot soldiers he had surreptitiously listened in on knew what was going on either, so that was a bust. The spy had then traveled deeper into the city to see if any of the more experienced soldiers knew about the super-cons. So far the most he had heard was a handful of rumors in the inner city, which he had sent back to Iacon. Not surprising to any of the Autobot officers, they all led back to the mad scientist Shockwave.

_"Of course,"_ Optimus thought grimly.

Supposedly, he inwardly continued, Shockwave had created something – a device, a virus, or a substance was still unclear to them – that produced this raging affect in ordinary mechs.

Unfortunately, that was about all Mirage had been able to glean from the mid to lower ranks and so far he hadn't been able to find a way deeper into the city without exposing his presence. Until he did there was no way to investigate Shockwave and the root of these rumors directly.

Optimus felt his optics narrow further as he gazed almost unseeingly down at the datapads on the table in front of him. There were still too many unanswered questions drifting around his head. All they knew for certain was that the violet-optic mechs were linked to Shockwave in some way, and in the end even that was inconclusive.

"How effective are the defensive tactics against them?" He finally turned to the black and white mech standing stiffly next to him.

Prowl's optics tightened in his version of a scowl. "Not effective enough," he said stoically, "we've found they're still susceptible to our fire; however it takes them so long to even notice they're being shot that they can easily extinguish their attackers before they finally go down, so it hardly even matters." He told them matter of factly, but they could all hear the troubled undercurrent to the tactician's words.

"Their armor's stronger then?" Ironhide asked in his deep voice.

Prowl shook his head sharply, a slightly hopeless disbelief creeping into his expression. "No." He told them almost like he could hardly believe what he was saying. "The glitches just don't _notice_." He stressed. "We'd probably have just as much of an affect throwing rocks at them for all they seem to care."

"Well if the rocks were big enough…" Ironhide rumbled in dark humor.

But Jazz shook his head at the bigger mech. "He means little rocks 'Hide. Itty, bitty, teensy sized, puny rocks. Rocks that not even Aria would call rocks 'cuz they're too fraggin' small." He clarified before Prowl could.

Ironhide growled unhappily in the back of his vocal processor. "Pity." He grumbled. "We've got lots of rocks now."

Optimus' processor was too busy trying to ferret out some new understanding from the scattered information lying in front of him to register Ironhide's attempt at humor.

A moment later the red and blue mech looked up at the silver one standing across the table from him. "Anything new from Mirage?"

Jazz nodded and shifted his weight to his other foot. "He says in his latest 'wave that he's got a name for the whatever-it-is that Shockwave's using on these 'cons. Apparently," none of them present missed the anxious way the lieutenant shifted uneasily again, "apparently, the scientist with a black hole where his spark should be is giving his test subjects sumthin' called," he hesitated just a nanoklik, "dark energon."

The other mechs present turned to stare at him in horrified astonishment. Finally, Ironhide spoke what they were all thinking.

"Well frag, that doesn't sound good."

Jazz gave a hard edged snicker. "Yeah, that's one way to put it."

Optimus thought over what this name could mean. Was if actually a form of energon then? Or some kind of experiment to mimic energon that had gone wrong and led to these mechs with violet optics? Or, worse, had they actually succeeded in twisting real energon so badly that it had led to the enraged madness of the super-cons?

Optimus could only pray that that wasn't the case. Energon was scarce as it was. If Megatron had found a way to corrupt it, make it inconsumable in any way…

_"It would be desperate," _Optimus thought, _"if something went wrong, if in the end the madness caused by this dark energon proved too dangerous in the long run, then he would suffer as much from corrupted energon as we would. Would he really take that chance?"_

He came to a grim conclusion. _"He would if he thought that it would let him win."_

Ironhide had apparently also been thinking along the same lines as Optimus was. "Wait a klik," he said in his gravelly voice, "something still doesn't add up."

The others looked up at him. Prowl in particular looked perplexed. "What?" He asked.

Ironhide frowned at them as he thought, thick optic ridges pulling low over his blue optics. "Megatron's using this dark energon to get an edge over us, yeah?"

Prowl was none enlightened. "Yes." He answered slowly, wondering where this was going.

Ironhide's faceplates shifted tighter in deeper thought. "So why's he only doing it half-aft? Why only give a handful of 'cons dark energon? Why not give it to all of 'em?"

The other three thought on this a cycle.

"He might not have enough for all of his forces." Prowl pointed out. "Or he could only be giving it to his top troops, as a reward."

Jazz vented a harsh laugh. "Some reward. They're practically processor-dead by the end."

Prowl shrugged as if to say it was still a possibility. This _was_ Megatron after all. He didn't exactly favor smarts over brute strength in his underlings.

"Either way," Ironhide took control of the conversation again, "he's not poisoning his entire army, so he's probably not planning to use this dark energon to just crush us in one go or something like that. So what's he doing with the stuff he's got then?"

It was a good question, Optimus thought. If Megatron wasn't going to use a swarm of mechs hyped up on dark energon to win directly, then what role did it play in his aspirations to victory?

"He's using it as a means to an end." Optimus realized. "He's using it to strengthen his final blow."

"Well, alright, that's all fine and good," Jazz said, sounding a little confused still, "but what end? What final blow?" Then he shrugged in usual Jazz-like manner. "Well, aside from crushing us into scrap anyway."

"That is an excellent question." Optimus murmured, but if there was an obvious answer, neither he nor the others could discern it.

In the end he turned back to Jazz. "Inform Mirage of our suspicions. Have him keep an auditor open to any new plans concerning this dark energon. If the chance presents itself, he should investigate the core of these rumors, but not if it involves unnecessary danger, especially if there's a good chance of their discovering him."

Jazz nodded. "Got it boss-bot."

Optimus nodded slightly in return, but his mind was already flicking over the other problems that needed his attention. "As for the dark 'cons," he said heavily, "avoid direct engagement when possib-"

He hardly got the words out of his mouth before Ironhide nearly yelled in disbelief, "_Avoid_ it? But we can't just let them walk all over us just because-"

"I'm not suggesting that we do." Optimus raised his voice just enough to be heard over Ironhide. He waited until he had the older mech's attention before adding, "Pressing the attack on them right now, when they don't even notice when they're mortally wounded, will end up hurting us more than them. What we need," he stressed, "is to find their weakness. Prevent them from extinguishing more bots before they go down."

"Well what do we do in the mean time?" Ironhide demanded. "Just ignore them?"

Despite their subject matter, Optimus felt a crooked grin start to pull at one corner of his mouth. "I can hardly ask you to go against your nature now can I Ironhide?"

Jazz laughed sharply and even Prowl had the ghost of smile around his faceplates. Ironhide just rolled his optics at them. "Yeah, ha ha, I'm as subtle as a blunt edged projectile." His sarcasm just about left puddles on the floor.

"I never said to ignore the 'cons," Optimus said, getting back to the matter at hand, "I just said to avoid getting _close_ to them." He clarified.

...

At that moment, Mirage was as close to the 'cons as anyone could possibly get.

_"And it's still not close enough."_ He thought to himself, frustrated.

He had positioned himself in a little hollowed out alcove that seemed to serve no purpose in its current surroundings. Probably before the war it had been occupied by a non-sentient, industrial machine of some sort. Now, though, it was the perfect place to watch the 'cons at work without them bumping into him.

Mirage flinched slightly at the memory. _"This is why I don't like drones," _he thought to himself as he remembered how the little thing had come barreling around the corner, nearly smacking head first into the invisible mech's ankle. Fortunately Mirage was nimble enough to avoid an impact that even a drone would have realized shouldn't have happened. Although the thing _had_ ended up tumbling head over wheels over his foot. Fortunately the little 'con only thought it had tripped over something, and after giving itself a shake, went about its way.

_"At least they're not exceedingly smart either."_ Mirage added.

A lull appeared in the tromping crowd in front of him, and Mirage took the chance to slide through the sudden gaps between mechs. Silently, he made his way across the courtyard that separated the street from Megatron's headquarters and after waiting a klik for someone coming out of the building to open the door for him, the unseen Autobot slipped inside.

Compared to the courtyard, the inside of the Decepticon headquarters was practically deserted.

_"Suppose they're all out trying to 'crush the Autobot-scum'." _He thought scathingly, mimicking one of the more annoying 'cons he had overheard. Then he grinned wolfishly to himself. _"But now I don't have to worry about idiots running into me for the moment."_

With that in mind, he slowly but steadily began to make his way deeper into the building. His previous thoughts were only strengthened when he found only the occasional mech running around on various errands. However if the sketchy plans he had of the building were accurate, then he was sure to find all the Decepticons he could want, including Megatron and Starscream, just one level above him in the main control area.

But Mirage wasn't looking to make his job anymore difficult then it already would be. Given the pulse wave he had received recently from Jazz, his objective wasn't the first or second in command; it was Shockwave.

Mirage wasn't sure which he'd prefer really as he made his way down two levels before heading across the building to the attached entrance to the one next door, where the unfeeling scientist kept his host of experiments. Sure Shockwave wasn't as powerful as Megatron, or even Starscream, but he was a thousand times more devious, bordering on all out demonic in Mirage's own personal opinion. He had become, sadly, fairly familiar with the Decepticon scientist's approach to experimentation back when he had helped break a group of other Autobots out of the mad scientist's laboratory, along with Aria's little sister.

He was trying not to let the past distract him as he rounded the final corner and the door to Shockwave's sterilized lair came into view. Mirage waited a moment, but when no one else appeared, he silently walked up to the door. He would have to wait for someone to come through before he could get into the labs, at least if he didn't want anyone questioning why a door was opening all on its own anyway.

_"Given how vacated this place is, it may be awhile before anyone comes this way,"_ he thought dismally to himself as he prepared to settle in for the long wait.

A faint electric tingle shot down Mirage's spinal column when he approached the door. It was accompanied by an equally faint _'fzzt'_. But he didn't have enough time to figure out what had just happened before the door to Shockwave's labs abruptly opened, revealing a shortish, dark gray and purple mech with large, geeky looking optics.

He froze in the doorway and Mirage realized with horror that it was because he could _see _him.

"Blast." The Autobot muttered as he realized the electric shock had been a field of some sort that had been placed around the door. The _fzzt_ had been his cloaking mechanism shorting out because of it.

And then he didn't have time to talk as the geeky looking lab tech opened his mouth to shout for security, one hand already starting to transform into some sort of wicked looking syringe.

Not wanting to find out what he was about to get stuck with, Mirage slammed a fist into the lab tech's face, sending him reeling sideways into a nearby wall. But he was faster then Mirage anticipated, and was quickly back on his feet, rushing Mirage with the needle fully extended.

_"Well he's still a 'con I suppose,"_ was all the reasoning Mirage could get through that might explain the lab tech's quick recovery, _"although he's still a lab geek too."_

So it wasn't really that difficult for Mirage to side step and twist the other mech's arm so that he ended up on the receiving end of his own syringe instead.

The tech went rigid the moment he realized what had happened. Then a nanoklik later, he mumbled what could have been a curse before falling limply to the floor.

Mirage glanced around the surrounding passageways to make sure they were empty before muttering with some faint undertones of sarcasm, "Well that went well."

He tried to reactivate his cloak, but all he got was another disconcerting _'fzzt'_. He rolled his optics in frustration, long experience keeping him from losing his calm. He had a plan B for times like this, and even a few more tricks up his sleeve if it came right down to it, although he hoped things wouldn't get that far.

He still wasn't exceedingly happy though as he eyed the prone form of the lab tech splayed out on the floor, if only because plan B involved making the Decepticons think he was one of them.

And conveniently enough, there was now a Decepticon tech passed out in front of him.

Mirage groaned slightly as he realized that he was about to shrink a few feet and grow overly large, bug optics. He'd have to try and avoid any mirrors until it was safe to look like his own self again. He didn't want to see a nerdy little creep standing where his reflection should be, even if it _was_ only an illusion.

Not wasting anymore time on self pity, he found a series of briefing rooms around the next corner that, given the coating of dust over the bare tables, weren't used all that much.

After off lining the mech's internal comm. systems and then restraining him to the bolted down table for good measure, Mirage activated his newly programmed illusion so that it was projected just a few centimeters from his body. The result was a short, darkly colored mech appearing where the sleek, white and blue Autobot had been nanokliks before.

He had just replaced the cover on the now disabled door lock and begun to walk away when a horrifyingly, recognizable voice shot down the hall behind him.

"You! Lab rat! Get over here!"

Slowly, the disguised Mirage turned around, not sure if he was the one being addressed with that vaguely worded order.

Behind him, Starscream just looked fragged off that the lab tech wasn't jumping at his command. "Yes, _you _Pit spawned glitch. Come here."

Stiffly, Mirage did so.

The Seeker looked him up and down when he stopped a few feet in front of him, scowling fiercer then an Earthen bulldog.

Mirage tensed, wondering if there was some detail he might have missed, left uncovered somehow. Usually the thought wouldn't have even crossed his processor, but he had had to assemble the illusion very quickly. He may have missed something small in his hurry to get on his disguise before anyone wondered where the lab tech might have gone to.

He needn't have worried. After a klik of derogatory scowling, Starscream sneered at Mirage.

"Tell me runt," he started coolly, "which room is your master in?"

Mirage opened his mouth, trying to act like a scared little lab geek. "Uh…" he said, just as much because he didn't know how to answer the Seeker as for acting the part.

He was saved by the crackle of Starscream's comm. coming to life. "Starscream!" Megatron's voice was no less menacing despite its suddenly tiny stature. "Where are you? If you keep me waiting any longer _you_ will be the newest subject for the dark energon. Get down to the testing room _now_." He shouted.

"I'm coming!" Starscream snarled back, and before Mirage could take in what was happening, the Seeker had planted a clawed hand between the supposedly smaller mech's shoulder blades and shoved him forward in front of him.

"We'll just see how Megatron likes having his second in command held up by a slagging idiot, shall we half wit?" He hissed at Mirage.

_"Well at least I don't have to wait for anyone to open anymore stupid doors for me," _the Autobot thought in an attempt to ease his mounting anxiety, but as Starscream shoved him along the complex hallways like an appeasement sacrifice, he found it only made him more irritated instead.


	14. Chapter 14: All Over the Place

Mwuhahaha! I liked writing this chapter. Lots of characters = lots of writing fun! That and we get to peek in on a few other younglings from Aria's brood, as Mirage has so decided to name them. Hmm...speaking of Mirage...

;3 Nah, I'll let you read that in a minute instead. Anyway, since I have procrastinated answering reviews (yet again...) I figured I'd stretch my fingers and at least show you that yes, I do read and love your reviews. Thanks go out to Vivian Hale, Minirowan, annebellelennox, plagueblood90, Senna-X3, Autobot-Bre, and new comer Just Watch Me. Thank you so much I love you guys! :D

Now, um, I guess that's about it. Well, unless you want to know that the 'Screwbolt' is my blatantly mocking my own ability (or lack thereof) at making up Transfomer-like names. But I don't know if you really care about that, so I won't mention it. ;P Sneaky me...

Oh, Autobot-Bre - *devious laughter* the secret is mine and mine alone! Mwuhaha! Well, at least for the moment anyway. ;) But feel free to guess. You _might_ discover it...and as always loved your review ::heart!::

Now enjoy! And please leave me some more awesome reviews this time! ;)

...

The Long Road Home

14 – All Over the Place – 14

Mirage knew they had reached their destination when Starscream abruptly pushed him again, nearly sending him sprawling right into the door. Fortunately it opened before the disguised Autobot could ram into it and instead he went tripping over the threshold. Trying to stay in character, he landed with as geeky sounding an 'Ooph!' as he could manage.

Right at the feet of Megatron himself.

_"Oh slag…"_ Mirage heard himself inwardly mumble.

Megatron glared down at the miniature lab tech that Starscream had thrown in the room. From the way his red optics narrowed into slits, Mirage felt like the bigger mech could practically hear what he was thinking.

Fortunately the Decepticon leader had bigger cyberfish to fry, as it were.

"Starscream!" He hollered, voice bouncing noisily in the small space. "What is the meaning of this?"

The Seeker stared back, un-cowed by his supposed leader. "This is the little drone that kept you waiting my lord. He needs to work on actually _speaking_ when spoken to." The Seeker commander said with a harsh glance down at the dark purple-gray lab tech.

Mirage tried to look small and afraid, but there was only so much he could take without his hackles raising. Being talked down to by fragging _Starscream_ was coming dangerously close to the edge.

_"At least Megatron can back up his big talk,"_ Mirage thought angrily as he stayed prone on the floor, _"Starscream doesn't even have that."_

But he didn't speak, just glared at the floor where the Decepticons couldn't see.

"Screwbolt," a new voice, one that was as flat and cold as the northern plains, spoke up, "you are impeding the proceedings. Get out of the way."

It took Mirage a moment to realize the voice was addressing _him_.

_"Screwbolt, Screwbolt, Screwbolt,"_ he muttered in his mind, trying to remember that that was who they thought he was now. Then he paused and frowned slightly at the space directly before his optics. _"What the Pit kind of name is Screwbolt?" _He demanded.

Of course he didn't get an answer as Shockwave directed him firmly to a clear space along the wall. Screwbolt himself would have fit so perfectly in the little space that Mirage reasoned it must have been made just for him. _"He must be one of Shockwave's personal assistants."_ Mirage, however, was too tall and too broad to fit without hunkering down and suffering through some extreme, personal discomfort.

He settled in well enough that the Decepticons didn't even spare him another look. Of course if they had actually seen Mirage – sitting half crouched down, knees bent out, one arm pressed against his chest, the other flung up so that his arm was pressed against the side of his face, with his head tilted just enough that it didn't bang into the shelf directly above him – they might have laughed at him before they killed him.

_"Blasted 'cons…" _Mirage internally mumbled, blaming them for his being squeezed somewhere he thought not even Aria would fit comfortably.

He was soon distracted from his discomfort though as Megatron turned to address Shockwave.

"What have you discovered about this dark energon Shockwave?" He asked, not even glancing at the bush, much less beating around it.

Mirage impressively resisted the urge to fidget into something resembling a more comfortable position, and tried to listen without looking like he was paying the other mechs any extra attention.

Shockwave didn't answer directly and instead pressed a button on his control board. Mirage's optics flicked to the observational window just like everybody else's as its cover slid aside. The room beyond the window looked like a full fledged tornado had been released inside. Scientific looking equipment was strewn around the room, the larger machines in pieces along with, Mirage noted in muted horror, fragments of a mech, probably a guard that had gotten too close.

_"Too close to __**what**__?"_ Mirage asked before his optics landed on the answer to his question. He was sitting in the far corner of the chaotic room that had been cleared of debris. The mech was huddled over in obvious pain and misery. Freshly scarred hands held his head as if it was killing him, or maybe as if he was trying to block out some sort of obnoxious sound.

Mirage felt himself go cold when he saw that the mech's optics were shaded an unnatural shade of violet. But after several pulse pounding cycles where the mech only sat there and moaned piteously to himself, he noticed that they weren't the bright, eerie violet he had heard Jazz describe. Rather, they were dull and withdrawn, occupied with something other then what was directly before him.

Mirage couldn't help but feel a chilling sense of horror slither down his spinal structure, although he wasn't quite sure if it was at the thought of what the darkened mech could do to them if he got loose, or at the sight of what the dark energon had done to _him_.

Across the room, Megatron's facial features were as far from horror as it was possible. "What is this?" He demanded discontentedly. If Mirage hadn't known any better he would have thought Megatron was disappointed in the sight before him.

"The results of sudden withdrawal from dark energon." Shockwave told him stoically. "After a period of keeping the subject strictly on dark energon, the test subject's strength surpassed the initial spike in power that you witnessed Lord Megatron, and then continued to level off at fifteen times the subject's original force. After maintaining a constant level for some time, I ceased the subject's dark energon ration."

All optics were on Shockwave now. Mirage noticed that Megatron in particular seemed to be imagining what had happened and if in the end the pay off was greater than the sudden withdrawal symptoms.

Starscream, the Autobot thought from the way he was eyeing the larger mech, looked as if he was wondering if dark energon would finally give him that extra boost of power he needed to unseat Megatron.

Behind his Screwbolt illusion, Mirage narrowed his optics at the two Decepticons. He was tempted to let Starscream have the power, destroy Megatron (if he could, Mirage added snarkily), and then let the Seeker go through whatever torturous pain the mech on the far side of the window was feeling.

_"It would certainly make our job easier."_ Mirage thought, but left off this train of thought as Shockwave continued.

"The subject went into a fury, destroying everything he could lay his hands on. Attempts to sedate him were repulsed-"

Mirage took in the destruction in the room beyond and thought, _"I'll bet."_

"-however this first bout of rage quickly diminished as the remaining dark energon in the subject's system was absorbed. Since then, his nervous system has been racked by extreme pain."

Megatron turned his optics to the moaning test subject. "Why?"

"Withdrawal from the dark energon," Shockwave said before elaborating his more mundane statement with scientific facts and theories. Mirage hardly understood half of it, but he made sure to remember what was said. Someone else could make sense of this gibberish later.

A thoughtful expression came onto Starscream's face as he stepped closer to the observation panel. "It seems to have an addictive quality to it." He muttered just loud enough that the others could hear. "What other side affects does he exhibit?" He asked Shockwave in his usual superior way.

Mirage remembered that Starscream had been one of the rare examples of a bot being part of two different castes back before the war had started. With Seekers being rarer then ground based mechs, he had immediately been placed in their military caste, but then he had proved bright enough that allowances had been made to also include him in the scientific caste as well.

Mirage frowned, remembering the single occasion he and the Seeker had been at the same function. It had been before the war, some social function he had attended though he couldn't remember for what exactly, but he _did_ remember the smug look on Starscream's face, as if he knew he was better then anyone else alive and thought they should know it too.

_"It seems some things never change,"_ Mirage thought as that same smirk appeared on Starscream's face as Megatron roughly demanded, "What are you two jabbering about?"

"Simple enough Lord Megatron," Starscream said as if what he and the other scientist had been saying was perfectly obvious to even the simplest of processors, "he's found that regular energon seems to have a reversing effect on the aftermath caused by dark energon, albeit it is a very small one."

"It keeps the subject from howling at any rate." Shockwave clarified. "However, other then that it does not seem to reverse them back to their previous physical state. Given the evidence I doubt that the subject will ever return to his pre-dark energon state."

Megatron thought about this. "And yet if kept on a steady diet of dark energon, the user feels none of these..." he shot the subject in the other room a narrowed-optic look, "side affects." He finished.

Starscream looked up at the dark ceiling as if asking for patience. "Yes, but what about when the energon runs _out_?" He demanded. "Even if you change all of the energon on Cybertron into dark energon it doesn't take care of the problem that the planet cannot keep up energon production to sustain this war indefinitely. If nothing changes there won't _be _anymore-"

"Stop reminding me of things I already know!" Megatron shouted, rounding on his subordinate. "And as for the depleting energon Starscream," he paused, a malevolent grin spreading across his jagged faceplates, "you should stop being so short sighted. The future is far more flexible then someone like you might think."

_"Well _that _can't be good,"_ Mirage thought, _"he's obviously got a plan of some sort to gain more energon reserves, although if he's not telling Starscream what it is then it's probably not ready for action yet. But even then he's not worried about converting energon into dark energon, even _with_ the side affects."_ He threw another glance at the unlucky test subject. He was curled up on the floor now, optics flat with misery.

As much as Mirage wouldn't mind the Decepticons inflicting that kind of existence on themselves, he didn't want to think about what choice that would leave for the Autobots either.

_"We could either give in to dark energon," _he resisted the urge to shudder at the very thought, _"or die from total energon depravation altogether. Joy."_

He ran out of time for sarcastic commentary as a comm. unit activated somewhere on Shockwave's control board.

"Speak," Shockwave ordered the mech on the other end.

"Sir," what sounded like another lab tech spoke from the other end, "the security detail is telling me that a malfunction is registering on their system. Apparently a door control has been tampered with."

Mirage felt his optic ridges go up. _"And that would be my cue to leave."_ He really didn't want to find out what would happen when the Decepticons realized that the real Screwbolt had been gagged and bound behind that broken door control.

Shockwave seemed puzzled by this information. "And you are telling me this…why? This is a matter for security. Let them do their own work."

An amused pause came across the open communication line. "They insist it's our problem, not theirs." He snickered.

"Cowards," Starscream huffed, correctly guessing why the lab tech found this funny, "they won't even come over into this side of the building," he grumbled.

Mirage's optics flickered from Shockwave to the subject in the other room, and found he couldn't blame them exactly, even if they _were _being what Aria would call 'scaredy cats'.

If Shockwave were any other mech, Mirage decided, he would have looked annoyed. But he wasn't, so he didn't, and when he spoke next there was no emotion in his flat tone. "Screwbolt."

Mirage looked over at the scientist in some surprise. He hadn't expected to be dragged into this.

He figured Screwbolt must be a naturally jumpy mech because the other three didn't seem to think anything of his quick movements. "Investigate this malfunction and report back your findings." Shockwave told him.

The image of Screwbolt nodded as Mirage quickly tried to find a way up without knocking anything over. He managed with enough success that the three Decepticons ignored him once Shockwave had given his order, but it didn't help him that his foot was asleep from sitting awkwardly for so long.

"Shockwave," Megatron said as Mirage carefully made his way across the room, "start darkening the energon we have. If the Autobots are having a hard time now, we'll see how they handle this new development." His following grin was practically demonic.

Starscream crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his leader. "Oh yes, that's a wonderful plan. Let's condemn ourselves to _that_ existence," he jerked his head at the shivering subject on the other side of the window, "before this mysterious plan of yours to create more energon goes into effect. _Brilliant_."

Mirage only heard the first half of Megatron's scathing reply before the door closed quietly behind him. Out in the corridor, he allowed himself a sharp edged grin as he realized what Starscream and Megatron had unwittingly just confirmed for him.

Fate was kind, he decided, as well as in possession of a very keen sense of irony.

Not bothering to waste any more time, Mirage found the quickest way out of the building, wanting to be gone before the real Screwbolt woke up and told his superiors about the Autobot he had found in the hallway. As soon as he was clear of the city, he sent his findings back to Iacon. He grinned to himself shortly after when a simple message was broadcast back across the widest reaching signal the Autobots possessed.

::DECEPTICON DARK ENERGON SUPPLIES FINITE; SIDE AFFECTS INTOLERABLE; MAKE THEM USE IT AS BEST YOU CAN::

Mirage grinned as he transformed and shot towards Autobot territory. _"The more we run, the more they use. Oh, yeah, let's have some fun with this."_

...

"I still don't get it," Fastlane said as he mulled over the broadcast again as black mountains flew by underneath him, "they _want _us to run?"

If he hadn't been in his alt mode, Cloudraker would have rolled his optics at his brother. "No," he said slowly, wondering if it would sink in this time, "they want us to get the 'cons to burn through their super- brew, or whatever it is. And we can do that just as well by getting them to chase us as we can by picking a fight with a beast that could just as easily crush us into pieces."

"Sooo…" Fastlane said after a long cycle, "…they're telling us to run."

Cloudraker resisted the urge to vent a sigh. "Yeah, sure, if that's all you get out of this mess." He said in resignation. Not that he didn't love his brother, but Fastlane was a mech of action; sometimes the reasoning behind the actions of those above them eluded him.

"I don't know what he's worrying over though." Fastlane added shortly. "Silverbolt I mean," he added quickly, although Cloudraker had already figure that was who he meant. They had just met with the lead Autobot Seeker before coming out for patrol duty and the older flier's words were still drifting through both of their processors. "I mean, I get why he'd want to warn us about dark 'cons and everything, but you really think Starscream's that stupid to let his Seekers take the stuff? As crazy as they seem to get, how do you think they'd even fly?" He asked.

Cloudraker's alt form couldn't shrug either, although the motion was implied in his tone of voice. "I dunno. But as strong as it makes them, I bet the thought has crossed his conceited processor more then once."

"To darken, or not to darken, _that_ is the question," Fastlane suddenly said in a comically overbearing, pompous tone.

"Oh Primus make him stop," Cloudraker muttered.

"Whether 'tis nobler in the end to suffer the stupidity of my outrageous self-"

"You know Jie Mei would weep if she heard you right?" Cloudraker shot his brother a look.

Fastlane ignored him. "-or to keep my smug, smart-aft personality-"

Fortunately Cloudraker was saved from anymore butchering of his favorite Earthen soliloquy. _Un_fortunately, it was by the sudden appearance of another Seeker.

A darkened, Decepticon, Seeker.

_"Of course,"_ Cloudraker thought in the brief moment where the three fliers were still, sizing each other up.

"Well," Fastlane muttered lightly, "if this ain't an implausible coinky-dink."

If he hadn't been staring down his newest nightmare-made-real, Cloudraker would have glared at his brother. "Somehow," he muttered back, "I blame you."

"Fair enough," Fastlane answered him.

Then they both high tailed it out of there.

"You just had to go and open your big mouth didn't you?" Cloudraker yelled at Fastlane as they screamed over the jagged mountain peaks.

Fastlane spared enough attention from the still unmoving Decepticon to inwardly roll his optics at his brother's devout ascription to Murphy's Law. "So sue me," he told him, "now how about you busy yourself with the more important question of why the slagger isn't chasing us?" He shouted back, though much calmer then his brother had yelled at him.

As soon as he spoke the words, the Decepticon gave a roar of sadistic laughter and sharply flipped over backwards to give chase.

"Oh, well ain't that wonderful?" Cloudraker hollered. "He was giving us a sporting _chance_!"

"Y'know," Fastlane said as he angled down sharply, Cloudraker right behind him, to disappear under the constant cloud layer that surrounded the high mountains, "I'm beginning to get the nagging feeling that maybe dark energon doesn't exactly make all mechs stupid, per say."

The Decepticon Seeker suddenly appeared in front of them, resolving out of the misty clouds like some sort of spook.

"Ya think?" Cloudraker yelled over their comm. as well as out loud.

"Would you quit yelling in my auditor and stick to the FLP plan!" Fastlane yelled back, starting to get annoyed with his brother's hysteria.

"FLP? What the heck is an FLP?" Cloudraker shouted as he narrowly avoided taking a bullet in the back.

Fastlane avoided his own bullets as he shouted. "Fly like Pit!"

Both brothers abruptly dived down without a second thought, immersing themselves in the dangerous canopy of intermittent spikes of metallic rock that made up the mountain range. They wove tightly through the natural, jagged spires, avoiding crashing into them only by their quick reflexes and long hours of practice. True, they hadn't _thought _of it as practice at the time when Cloudraker had chased Fastlane through the mountains in an effort to get back the communication from his guardian Cloudcover that he'd stolen, but since it was helping to save their sorry hides…

_"At least his thievery paid off _some_how."_ Cloudraker thought as he dove and twisted through the tight spaces between mountain spires. Just off to his right, he could make out the occasional glimpse of Fastlane's red wings as he sped through his own maze.

::You see 'im anywhere?:: Cloudraker shot him a pulse wave.

Fastlane checked his own sensors. ::No. He's probably too big to fit though this labyrinth.:: He answered him.

Cloudraker managed a chocked off laugh. ::Who knew being so dang small would be helpful huh-herk!::

He was cut off as a large taloned claw suddenly grabbed him from above.

_"Cloud!"_ He dimly heard Fastlane yell.

He was a bit too preoccupied by the talons ripping holes in his armor and making their way towards his internals to answer his brother. _"Think stupid!" _He yelled at himself as his processor seemed to freeze on him. _"Think!"_

Before he could try and think of a way to get the 'con off of him without removing some rather important bits of himself in the process, a furious battle cry rent the air.

_::Duck!:: _Came Fastlane's voice over his internal comm. Cloudraker barely had enough time to curl up on himself as best he could before Fastlane's streamlined body punched right through the Decepticon.

_"Don't even think about how fast he's going right now," _Cloudraker's stunned mind ordered him, _"…or what it would have done to your head if it had been in the way." _He added.

Cloudraker held back a scream when he felt the Decepticon's talons loosen, widening the entry wounds that were already there, but it didn't stop him from rolling away and putting as much distance between him and 'con when he got the chance.

He watched a short distance away as, miraculously, the light faded from the Seeker's unnaturally violet optics. Then as if he was moving in slow motion, Cloudraker watched his attacker fall, spark fading into oblivion.

He shuddered at the thought that that might have been him if Fastlane hadn't nosedived straight through the 'con's armor. In front of him, the Decepticon's body disappeared through the cloud layer.

"Well," Fastlane said as he came to hover beside his brother, "that was remarkably easy. And here I thought dark 'cons would be more of a challenge." He said lightly, but his humor soon faded and he turned uncharacteristically serious as he took in Cloudraker's wounds. "You okay?" He asked worriedly.

Cloudraker nodded, only now realizing he had come out of his alt mode automatically when the Decepticon had grabbed him. Somehow, he managed to tear his optics away from the the spot where the 'con had disappeared from sight. "Yeah, fine. I can still fly," he reassured him, finally turning to his brother's familiar face, "and it only seemed easy because you punched right through his spark. Of course he didn't last long after that."

Fastlane thought about this. "I was just trying to make him let go of you." He admitted, and then his usual teasing quality reappearing. "But when the others ask about it, I so totally did it on purpose." He added.

Cloudraker found it in him to sigh. He wouldn't admit it, but his brother's usual, mocking attitude was putting him at ease. "Right. We'll just ignore the fact that that was probably the single most stupid thing you've ever done." He shot back.

"At least it worked," Fastlane said, slightly defensive.

"Yeah," Cloudraker said, the realization that he wasn't about to die in the immediate future finally sinking in. Then a different realization sank in and he said again, "Yeah, it _did_ work."

Fastlane knew that thoughtful pitch in Cloudraker's voice quite well. "Whatcha thinking?" He asked seriously.

"That it actually _worked!_" Cloudraker just about laughed. Then before Fastlane could ask him what was so special about bringing down a 'con, Cloudraker transformed back into his alt mode, zoomed around, and angled back for base. "Come on!" He yelled back excitedly at the hovering Fastlane. "We gotta tell Silverbolt. My pointy, idiot brother actually found something that _works!_"

"Hey!" Fastlane shouted as he tore off after his brother. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Because you once suggested using a cannon to paint the playroom."

"Hey! It would work! It's the same theory as paintball!" He yelled after him.

They argued the rest of the way back to base.

...

::DECEPTICON DARK ENERGON SUPPLIES FINITE; SIDE AFFECTS INTOLERABLE; MAKE THEM USE IT AS BEST YOU CAN::

The femmes were in the middle of their own spat with the Decepticons when the message came through. From where she was hunkered down behind a piece of rubble, the youngest femme, Arcee, allowed herself a hard edged grin.

"You hear that Moonracer?" Arcee shouted above the sharp noise of weapons' fire.

Where she knelt out of sight a few yards away, Moonracer yelled back, "Sounds like the rest of them finally got the idea!" Then she gave a muffled curse as the chunk of building behind her exploded, grit raining down on her head.

Arcee leaned around her shelter just enough to fire off two quick shots at one of the 'cons that had stupidly remained out in the open. The others were a bit smarter, ducking behind their own hunks of rubble when the femmes returned fire, but Arcee wasn't about to complain when one of them forgot to bring their common sense with them into battle.

He went down fairly easy, but she had to quickly duck back behind her debris shield before the not so easy ones could take her out instead of the other way around.

"Yes, it's wonderful, we're all fraggin' _geniuses_," Firestar growled somewhere over to Arcee's right, "now mute it and shoot!"

"Like we weren't doing that before?" Moonracer cracked, but nevertheless managed to take out another Decepticon when he barely poked his head out of his hidey-hole.

Arcee shook her head. It still amazed her that someone who was such a klutz was also such a crack shot.

Of course, the Decepticon only stood back up again, but hey, that didn't lessen Arcee's amazement any.

Firestar growled. "Fraggit," she swore as she ducked again, shots flying above her head, "it's like no matter how many times we hit them they always get back up again."

Arcee leaned her head back against her momentary shelter and ruthlessly shoved down her fear. She had done it so many times before that there was hardly a struggle this time to shove it back in its lockbox.

She managed to grin crookedly at Firestar. "Don't you listen Firestar? We gotta wear 'em down first."

And with that she took off running.

The other two were only a nanoklik behind her. They might not have the raw strength of the Decepticons, or even of the Autobot mechs, but they were faster and more agile. That combined with the fact that the Decepticons were on the femmes' home territory made it easy for the girls to quickly outdistance them.

At least, until Moonracer tripped over something.

"Ooph!" The sea green femme muttered as she hit the ground hard. Ahead of her the other two skidded to a stop. Firestar fired off a shot at the nearest 'con, who was thankfully still a little ways away, trying to give the klutzy femme time to find her feet again.

"Ow, ow, ow," Moonracer said instead.

Arcee gave her a worried look. "You alright Luna?" She asked, using the nickname the other femme had adopted from Aria.

In answer, Moonracer lifted her weight onto her elbows, and pulled something small out from underneath her midriff. "Yeah," she said slowly as she looked at the thing, "this just burned me is all." Then as if to prove her point, she hissed and dropped the strange little rectangle. Arcee looked over to see two fresh burn marks on Moonracer's thumb and forefinger.

"What the heck is that?" The youngest femme asked, only half of her attention on the thing that had burned her friend. The majority was still on the horizon, watching out for another attack.

"I don't know," Moonracer said slowly.

Firestar growled slightly. "This is great finding new things and all, but this is no time for lying around. Now let's get out of here." She hissed at the other two.

With one last look at the surrounding ruin, Arcee grabbed Moonracer's wrist and hauled her to her feet, but not before the other femme managed to scoop up the peculiar rectangle along with a handful of grit to keep it from burning her again.

"It could come in handy somehow," she told Arcee by way of explanation.

Then a shot exploded solid rock into fine grit and they were off again, dashing and ducking until, eventually, they lost their violet-optic tail.

...

Silverbolt sent along Cloudraker's idea the moment the younger mech was done explaining it. It had been met in Iacon with thoughtful consideration before it was sent off to Wheeljack. After looking over the young Seeker's proposal, Wheeljack and Ratchet had said that it should work. At least, it should in theory.

But Prime had said they needed to know if it would work out on the field, so here Bluestreak was, sitting in an abandoned storage tower close enough that he could see the whole battlefield spread out in front of him, but far enough away to keep the Decepticons from easily spotting him.

The whole idea, he reflected again as he looked for a clear shot, was that you had to take out something vital on the very first shot – like their spark, or maybe their pump – something that would kill the dark 'con instantly. If you hit something less then vital, or if your shot wasn't clean, then the dark 'cons would just keep coming and finish their attacker off in the few cycles before they bled out.

The problem with that was that the Decepticon's armor was still just as strong as it was before they had figure this 'dark energon' stuff out, so firing off a single kill shot with the usual bullets on the first try was still just as impossible as before.

Ergo, Cloudraker had said, you needed _un_usual bullets.

_"'Though I wonder if you can still call them bullets at this point."_ Bluestreak thought to himself as he lay on his stomach in front of the open window, sniper rifle positioned in front of him, one optic pressed up against the scope.

_"Generally," _he continued thinking, a small part of his processor moving at a thousand miles a second since his mouth couldn't at the moment. The majority of his mind, however, was concentrating on the chaotic battle taking place just outside Iacon's city limits. _"Generally bullets stop being bullets when they're turned into tiny projectiles that open up like one of Jazz's grappling hooks as soon as they're through Decepticon armor. Although I guess bullets are actually tiny projectiles too, so then I guess these things would be – I dunno – exceedingly small missiles maybe? No that wouldn't work. Missiles explode, they don't spring open as they move to shred through some poor mech's spark chamber."_

Bluestreak's headlong rush of words paused a moment as he scowled through the scope, realizing what he had just said. _"I'm not gonna feel sorry for them."_ He thought determinedly. _"They could've stopped attacking the non-combatants a long time ago, even if they still fought us. But they didn't, so I'm not gonna feel sorry for them."_

Images of friends he had had when he was youngling came unbidden to his mind. Only instead of remembering them laughing or playing or anything like that, all he could see were their small, lifeless, forms after the Decepticons had sacked his hometown of Helix.

An opening finally presented itself and quick as thought, Bluestreak fired.

He had enough time to think, _"Time to see if these things work," _as the not-missile crossed the impressive distance from the abandoned tower to the battlefield.

As Bluestreak watched, the Decepticon he had aimed at raised a silver mech up by the neck-

-and then suddenly gave a shudder as the newly created not-bullet-not-missile projectile shot through his chest armor and wrought havoc with his internals, the needle point of the unopened projectile fine enough to practically slide through the armor.

Bluestreak didn't dare to move as he waited to see what would happen. The silver bot the 'con was holding managed to wriggle out of his grasp, but the Decepticon himself only looked disbelievingly down at his chest, and then slowly up in Bluestreak's general direction.

And then, amazingly, he fell over, violet optics fading.

Bluestreak dared to release a breath of air. _"They work." _He thought with some amazement. _"I mean, not that I didn't believe Cloudraker or anything, and Wheeljack knows what he's doing - generally - but still, you just never can tell sometimes how things'll work out and, well,"_

He trailed off as the silver mech turned around and raised his arms at him in a 'really?' gesture.

"Sorry Sideswipe," Bluestreak mumbled, wondering if the other mech could really see him or not.

Whether he could or not, the silver mech turned around and leapt back into the fray, ready to take on his own fair share of 'cons, if not more.

_"That's Sideswipe for you,"_ Bluestreak thought as he repositioned himself behind his rifle again, pressing one optic to the scope as he searched out another target, _"although he does make it exceedingly difficult to get a clear shot when he's always darting around Decepticons like that…"_

...

"Quit stealing my 'cons kid," Sideswipe mumbled as he dodged a blow from a dark con and slipped under his guard to land a hard blow of his own in the other mech's lower torso. Then when that did next to nuthin', he quickly followed it up with a sword to the chest plates.

Despite his fine blades – he should know since he'd made them himself – the Decepticon simply laughed at him when the sword went no deeper then a couple of inches. No where _near_ deep enough to get at his spark.

Sides' didn't let it get to him. Especially since he had seen his brother coming up behind the 'con from the start.

He hauled his blade arm back before slamming it deeper into the mech's chest just as Sunstreaker did the same from behind.

They both stepped back as the 'con sunk to the ground, optics fading.

"Who's got the last laugh now, huh Sunny?" Sideswipe shot a grin at his twin.

Sunstreaker rolled his optics as if he was silently asking for extreme patience. "Don't you _ever_ shut up?" He growled at him.

Sides' grinned cheekily at him. "Nope." He shot back.

Sunstreaker growled again, irritated, but before he could try and get in the last word, a Decepticon as tall as Megatron himself came careening about in front of them, wheels where his feet would normally have been spinning fast enough to throw streaks of torn up ground at the twins.

Sunny cursed and ducked. Sideswipe just watched the small silver blur at work on top of the Decepticon's back with a lopsided grin on his face.

Dirt splattered his frame as he watched Jazz kneel down and shoot his grappling hook, point blank, into the Decepticon's back. The dark energon crazed mech reared back and howled, trying to dislodge Jazz. The smaller mech fell back, but he managed to keep his grip on the cable attached to the grappling hook and instead of falling off completely, the Decepticon's thrashing swung him around, giving him the chance to land a solid kick against his front as he came all the way around.

The 'con gave a strangled sounding gurgle as Jazz's kick only reinforced the damage already done by the hook still planted in his back. As the twins watched, the Decepticon staggered. Then when Jazz yanked the grappling hook out of his frame, the giant fell down right in front of the gold and silver mechs' feet.

Jazz hopped off lightly, retracting his weapon. "_That_," he spat, more furious then either of the twins had ever seen him, "was for my team."

Sunny and Sides stared at him a long moment. When he finally noticed them, he stared back, one optic ridge raised as if to say, 'can I help you?'

"You are one scary little dude." Sideswipe finally pointed out.

Jazz gave them a look, his usual devil-may-care attitude snapping back into place. "Speak for yourself. You're only a head tall then me." He told him with a smirk.

A roar that threatened to ground their auditory systems into dust howled across the battlefield before they could continue the back and forth. All three of them looked up as a long shadow fell over them.

"Wow," Sideswipe whistled lowly. Sunstreaker just nodded.

Above them stood the largest 'con they'd ever personally laid optics on. He was easily taller then Optimus by half, maybe bigger then Ultra Magnus himself even, and, of course, his optics just had to be that absurd violet color.

"You have got to be _kidding_ me!" Sunstreaker hissed.

The only thing Jazz said was a downright cheery, "Come on Things 1 and 2. Let's see if you got any skills to back up your big mouths!" Then before they could shout anything back, he deftly made his way across the battlefield, grabbing a gun some poor unlucky spark had dropped on the field and firing up at the massive mech.

"I don't like him." Sunstreaker grumbled after the agile silver mech.

Sideswipe grinned crookedly at him. "You don't like anybody." He pointed out. And then without another word from either of them, they leapt into the chaos the gigantic 'con was leaving in his wake.


	15. Chapter 15: A Quiet Talk

XDDDD You'll never guess where I was yesterday! Have you guessed? Alright, well I'm pretty sure you're wrong so let me just tell you...I got to go to Botcon! ::biggest happy face in the world!:: It was so cool, and there were so many artists, and I got signatures from Bumblebee and Blaster and Simon Furman and I got to- well, I got to do a lot of stuff. So i think I'll finish this conversation somewhere else. But I am putting the photos on a twitter account I got just for that purpose. ;) Anyway, in honor of my extreme happiness, I have the next chapter...although it isn't all that happy...but I am going to try and write a short or two based on the awesomeness that was Botcon 2012 and they will be light and cute and funny. ;P

Oh, I'm too excited. I'm just gonna ramble on and on at this rate. n_n; Anyway, you're reviews were absolutely _stellar. _There are 131 of them now and I can't even begin to tell you how amazed and grateful and just all around _ecstatic _that makes me. I need to answer you because you are all lovely and brilliant and everything you said just made me all happy! :D THANK YOU!

Oh, and sorry if there're any typos. I can't concentrate on anything right now...just thought I'd give you fair warning, but it _should_ be fine. I hope...::smiles nervously::

Puggle Bluestreak (yes, you read that write, search BethanyRose33 on Twitter and I think you'll find his cute little picture ;3) squeaks thank you and he hopes that you all have good weeks this week. Lol, he's just too darn cute. And hopefully Mrs. Mittens won't eat him or carry him off somewhere overnight while I'm sleeping...

o.o Eep! (Puggle Bluestreak.)

^-.-^ Hmm... (Mrs. Mittens.)

u.u Oh boy... (Me. Because I will always be dragged into their insanity it seems.)

...

The Long Road Home

15 – A Quiet Talk – 15

The Hall of Records was even quieter than usual what with almost everybody gone, and it unnerved Aria more than anything she had ever heard.

She was standing in front of the tall windows in one of the long halls in the Hall of Records. Before her she could make out practically everything happening in the battle that ha sprung up along the city's edge. Small bursts of light would pop up only to fade sharply away every so often, but it took a few kliks for the sound of the explosions to reach Aria's ears since she was somewhere in the middle of the city.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." She counted quietly to herself as she stared out the window, face drawn and white. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight."

Another explosion lit up the chaotic middle of the battleground, giving Aria just enough light to make out the enormous figure towering in center of a crowd of more average sized bots. As she watched, a small silver blur, made absolutely tiny by comparison, swung around the large mech on some sort of cable that was now embedded in the bigger one's shoulder armor.

"Jazz." Aria mumbled, relieved to see him since she had no other way of making sure he was alright.

Two other mechs, one silver and one gold, joined in, hassling the Decepticon like they hassled everyone else, except she liked to think that the twins would never shoot at another Autobot with anything other then paint, not like now as they darted between the large 'con's legs, peppering him with bullets to further slow his already limited mobility.

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker." She mumbled when she saw them.

The dark Decepticon, already inflamed by the fact that none of his opponents would stand still long enough for him to squash them, threw back his head and roared loud enough to rattle the window in front of Aria. She froze as the sound reverberated through the clear surface and rattled through her chest, making her bones buzz uncomfortably.

Something zipped through Aria's line of sight fast enough that she almost missed it. But she didn't miss the sudden flow of neon green fluid that started to pour from the new hole in the dark 'con's chest armor, cutting his howl off short.

As the rest of the Autobot's continued to harass the slowing Decepticon, Aria traced back the small projectile's path to a stunted, blackened tower lying on the outskirts of the city.

She allowed herself the smallest of smiles. She didn't need to feel the solid sense of determination coming from her oldest brother to know who it was. "Bluestreak."

Closing her eyes to help her concentrate, Aria sorted through the mooring lines wrapped around her spark-heart, singling out Bluestreak's to make sure he was alright out there by himself.

An answering tug on the line said that he was.

Reassured, or as much as she could be as she watched her friends fight for their lives and more far off in front of her, Aria pulled back, not wanting to distract Bluestreak.

But that did lead her back to her previous counting.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." She counted out loud as she singled out each of the strings that attached her to the eight mechs and femmes that had kept her from dying once. Then, just to be sure, she went over them again, mentally adding a name to each line as she went. _"'Bee, Bluestreak, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Hound, Ironhide, Chromia, Elita." _She counted off. _"'Bee, Bluestreak, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Hound, Ironhide, Chromia, Elita."_

She released a deep breath, but it didn't ease her any. The last two lines, the ones that belonged to the femmes, were quiet, sleeping Aria preferred to think, because Chromia and Elita were too far away for her to feel. But the foundation was still there, so she knew at the very least that they were still alive.

_"Reassuring," _Aria thought as she went back to staring out the window, _"but not exactly comforting."_

She wasn't quite alone in the long hall though. On the far side of the room, Nathanial and Peg were perched on top of a bot sized hand railing that was big enough for three Equines to walk side by side on. They had originally come in here to go through the practice runs drilled into every cavalry pair, but Peg had found that _that_ obviously wasn't going to happen. Ever since they had gotten here Nathanial had done more staring then practicing.

She gave her human a bounce to get his attention. Nathanial jumped slightly, but turned his head back around to face the direction they were actually going.

He frowned at his mount. "What was that for?" he asked somewhat irritated.

Peg wasn't feeling much like a roll in the grass either. She twisted her head back as far as she could and frowned back at him. _"To remind you that staring is still rude."_ She sniped.

Nathanial released a sigh and hung his head before running a hand through his nut brown hair. "You're right, you're right," he groaned, "I'll concentrate. I will." He told her.

But Peg just rolled her large, black eyes at him. _"No you won't. You're completely useless now."_

Nathanial frowned at his beast. "Thanks a lot Peg." He griped. "What's got your tail is a twist? I'm sorry if you miss the herd that much but I'm working on it so-"

_"It's not the herd I'm worried about!" _Peg suddenly shot back, head twisting around again. _"It's you. And her. And the fact that you've inherited the typical male gene of blindness!"_ She all but shouted in his head.

Nathanial flinched at the noise in his skull as Peg shifted her weight angrily. He could feel her irritation with him, but if she wasn't going to tell him what it was about then there wasn't much he could do but guess. They could hear each other's thoughts when they were directed and concrete, but they weren't exactly mind readers. They didn't hear every little thing.

Not wanting to just let this lie, but not really wanting to talk about it at the moment, Nathanial just said as non-aggressively as he could, "Males and females aren't different species Peg."

Peg shifted her weight again and blew out a huff of hot air through her nose. _"They might as well be."_ She grumbled.

They sat quietly for a moment. Peg stared stubbornly at the air in front of her, although one ear was inconspicuously twisted around so she could hear her human better. Nathanial for his part, felt his eyes inexplicably drawn back to Aria's withdrawn form where she was standing silhouetted against the large window at the other end of the hall.

_"You should go talk to her." _Peg finally broke the silence.

Nathanial's head snapped forwards again. "Huh?" He asked, caught off guard.

Peg rolled her eyes at him even though he couldn't see. _"Well if you're not going to be useful,"_ she grumbled just short of scathing, _"then you should go talk to her. Right now you look like a creeper."_

Nathanial jerked back slightly, as surprised at Peg's observation as he was at the very Aria-sounding word of 'creeper'. He opened his mouth to defend himself, but Peg blew out another irritated huff of air.

_"Just go already!"_

Nathanial's mouth snapped shut and he shot Peg another frown. But then without another word, he dismounted and slid down one of the railings attached to the hand rail they were standing on like a firemen's pole. He shot her another, more worried, look when he reached the ground, but then walked off towards Aria.

As soon as she was sure he was headed in the right direction, Peg leapt from the railing herself and glided silently across the room. She flapped her wings briefly to steady her landing as her hooves met the smooth surface of the only occupied desk.

_"Humans are stupid."_ She grumbled to the mech sitting crouched over the various datapads spread across the desktop.

Ratchet cackled briefly. Obviously the battle raging just outside the city had put him in a dark mood. "I think the term you're looking for is willfully ignorant."

Peg rumbled in her narrow chest. _"Same difference."_ She told him.

Nathanial had reached the windowsill by now. He experienced only the slightest moment of hesitation before he reached up and lifted himself onto the ledge.

Aria didn't move when he appeared, just continued to stare out the window, mechanically taking in the scene of destruction. From here they could make out most of the battlefield, but they were so far away that the waves of mechs looked more like ants then titans. Occasionally you could catch the glimpse of a familiar paint job, but mostly it was just indistinct movement and sudden flashes of light.

Aria watched the scene impassively, arms wrapped around her torso, her face deceptively calm in the light from the window. But Nathanial couldn't help but notice that she jumped slightly every time a new explosion appeared on the landscape and her hands tightened on her shoulders in fear.

He didn't have to imagine what she was feeling. He remembered what it was like, sitting on the sidelines as it were, waiting to see who would come back from the fight and who wouldn't.

Deciding not to speak just yet, Nathanial stopped next to Aria and put an understanding hand on her shoulder.

Aria started slightly at the touch and gasped as she was suddenly pulled from her thoughts. She noticed that her eyes hurt, and she quickly wiped the unshed tears out of her eyes before they could fall and said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Why-why did you name her Peg anyway?"

Nathanial paused, caught off guard by the question, but then his face softened a little. He remembered the feeble attempts at self distraction too.

"My father used to always call Equines 'Pegasus', but I could never say it right. It always came out Peggy Sue." He shrugged one shoulder. "Peggy Sue. Pegasus."

Aria managed a weak imitation of a laugh. "Funny." She said, but her voice was still dull.

Silenced reigned over then again, like a thundercloud that refuses to leave you alone. Aria didn't seem to notice as she stared out the window, but Nathanial felt like it was going to crush him if he didn't say something soon.

"If you don't mind my asking," he started slowly, deciding that now might be the best time to voice a question that had been tugging at this conscious for awhile now, "what are they to you? I mean," he added quickly, "it's obvious you care about them, and they care about you, however-"

She turned from the window and smiled at him weakly, as if she understood his question and the confusion it might cause. "But it still bothers you that you can't quite define it either, right?"

Nathanial thought about that, and then nodded with a slightly sheepish smile. "Something like that, yes."

Aria turned back to the window. "Well you remember how I introduced 'Bee and Val and Bluestreak as sort of my brothers, right?"

Nathanial nodded. That's what had really started him off on this question in the first place.

"Well there's no 'sort of' about it really," Aria continued on, some of the flatness leaving her voice, "because they are my brothers. I found them when I was like, eighteen I think. They were nothing more then these little glow balls buried in the ground. Well, all except Bluestreak. He was already a little kid by then. So they're my younger, bigger, brothers." She told him, a slight grin finally appearing out of its hiding place in the corner of her mouth.

Encouraged by that little grin, Nathanial pressed forward. "Alright, I think I understand. They adopted you."

Some of Aria's usual playfulness came back into her eyes. "I was here first. I adopted them."

Nathanial shook his head, smiling slightly at her, although he found it harder to wrap his mind around this then the simpler fact that she thought of them as family. "But what about the others then? How did you meet them?"

Aria's grinned pulled just a little higher at her face. "One at a time." She told him. Then the small smile shrank again and her eyes looked at something that was very far away. "It just sort of happened I guess. I mean, it seemed to make perfect sense at the time, although that might have been just because everything else just added up to a complete lack of sense, it was almost anti-sense in a way," she said with a roll of her eyes, "but when you suddenly get sick when you're stuck on a strange planet, and _no_ one can understand what the heck you're saying, suffice to say that a bot like Optimus will end up trying to figure out some way to help you, or at least try and find a way to ask you what's wrong." She tried to grin again, but it wasn't as natural as before.

Nathanial thought about this. He could tell there was a bigger story behind everything she had just said, but what he really wanted to know now was-

"So Optimus was the first one you met?"

Aria nodded. "Yeah," she said somewhat downcast. "I ended up in his house somehow, I forget how. But like I said, I got sick and he took me to Jazz who took me to Wheeljack who ended up getting Ratchet's attention when he blew something up right before we got there." She grinned hollowly.

"So…" Nathanial thought out loud, "they're your friends?"

Aria shot him a 'no-duh' kind of look. "What kind of question is that? Are they my friends? Of course they're my friends!" She told him quickly, acting more like her usual self.

"It's just," Nathanial tried to think of a way to translate his half defined thoughts into concrete words, "you don't act like they're _just_ your friends. Most of the time it's like," he hesitated, thinking, "it's like you _love _them."

Aria finally turned from the window to frown at him, her eyebrows creasing together above her puzzled blue eyes. "But I do love them." She told him plainly. Then as Nathanial watched, her blue eyes took on a more withdrawn, thoughtful expression.

"I _do_ love them," she said again, attention returning to him a moment later, "but I am not _in_ love with any of them. They're," she paused, a worried crease appearing between her eyes, "they're my family." She suddenly glanced up at him somewhat anxiously. "Does," she hesitated, "does that make any sense?"

Nathanial thought about her words a moment. In his opinion they were very strange. He had never really tried to define love before, but when he thought about it his original perception of it was that it was very hit or miss. Marriages were largely arranged, so the chances of ending up with the one and only true love all his sister's storybooks mentioned was one in a million.

Family love wasn't as new an idea to him, but even then it was more out of duty then not, so watching Aria interact with her 'brothers' was almost as enlightening as it was amusing. Despite the fact that they towered over her, Nathanial had seen them flinch just when she put her hands on her hips and scowled up at them, as if they were just misbehaving children and _she _was in charge.

But then, he thought, Miriam had done the same thing on occasion. He had always thought – hoped really – that she would grow out of it, but no. He still remembered when she and their two older brothers had come to wish him well when he had graduated from school. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but seeing his fourteen year old sister scowling at him like some sort of small, well dressed tigress wasn't it.

"Nathanial Hawthorne," she had practically shouted, "I don't see you for close to four years and when I finally do you look like you've been sleeping in a ditch! Didn't they teach you how to even take care of yourself in there?" She had demanded with all of the authority a fourteen year old girl is capable of using.

Nathanial had been dumbfounded, and of course Thomas and Morgan had laughed at him as Miriam had delicately stomped over, yanked him down to her height, and forcibly straightened out the tie he had never been able to quite figure out, nearly affectionately choking him in the process. Morgan and Thomas had only laughed harder.

Of course, they quickly stopped when she turned around and started to lay into them with her sharp tongue.

Maybe it wasn't quite the same as Aria and her brothers, Nathanial thought as he tried to find some similarities between his previous life and Aria's explanation, but it felt like parts of it were. But despite the fact that outraged sisters were apparently the same across every species, Aria's relationships with the mechs he had met, how they showed their affection for one another, was as alien to him as everything else.

"I believe it does," Nathanial answered Aria after taking a few moments to think, "or at least, I understand what you're trying to say."

Aria faintly smiled at him, just a tiny bit. He relaxed slightly, glad she had cheered up even that little bit, and they lapsed back into silence as another explosion drew their eyes back to the window.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nathanial caught Aria shiver, so he cleared his throat and searched his mind for another question to try and take her mind off the scene in front of them.

"And Optimus then? Is he some sort of over protective brother that I should be wary of too then?" He tried to grin to show he was teasing, but it felt lopsided on his face.

He knew he had chosen a bad subject when Aria's shoulder sunk even farther as her blue eyes drifted to the floor.

_"Stupid," _he told himself, only now remembering that things were a little tense right now between Aria and the Autobot leader.

He decided not to say anything else for awhile, so he stood there quietly, thinking Aria was just going to ignore the question completely. But he had noticed she had a habit of surprising him.

"Optimus," she said slowly a moment later, her voice as clear and succinct as Nathanial had ever heard, "is one of my best friends. And nothing will ever change that."

Nathanial was silent as he took in the set look to her face that said no matter what anyone said or did, especially Optimus, that would never change.

"You are too good to him." He finally said as he turned back to the window with a rueful grin. "The biggest fight I ever had with my closest friend Rifkin, I just about disowned him. We were still in school, since this was before we'd actually gotten our mounts and to be honest I don't even remember what we were arguing over, so it must have been something stupid, but I do remember wanting to throw everything he owned out of our dorm room." He smiled sadly at the thought, some shame for his part in the fight creeping into his smile. "You must be a very patient woman." He murmured.

Aria laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "No, I'm not, and you know I'm not," she pointed at him, trying to smile, but it didn't work, "I, I just don't know what to do." She admitted.

Without a word, Nathanial reached over and placed his hand on top of Aria's. "I admire your kindness," he told her softly, "and I wish there was something I could do to help you, but I can't think of anything." He admitted.

"And just for the record," Nathanial murmured a moment later, for her ears alone, "I think he's a complete idiot to treat you like that. You're worth so much more then that."

Aria looked up at him in obvious surprise. Her blue eyes were slightly wide as she stared.

A moment later her face relaxed back into a soft look. "Thank you," she murmured back, sounding slightly surprised even if she was happy about it.

He smiled back at her, relieved she was feeling better.

But his relief was short lived. He was about to ask about the rest of mechs in Aria's family when the blood suddenly drained from her face and her mouth dropped open in a silent look of pain, as if someone had just struck her.

"Aria?" Nathanial asked anxiously, then when she didn't answer him he gave her a slight shake, "_Aria?_"

Aria didn't answer. She couldn't answer actually. It hurt too much.

When all Aria did was press a hand to her heart, Nathanial decided to change tactics.

"Ratchet!"

The large mech was across the room faster then Nathanial would have thought possible for him, Peg close behind. As the neon yellow mech leaned down, practically pelting Aria with questions, Peg came up behind her human and bumped her nose against his back. He gently patted her neck when he caught sight of her large black eyes staring at him worriedly.

"It's alright Peggy Sue." He murmured to her, managing to bury most of his worry as Aria almost shouted the same thing at Ratchet.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" She said, talking too loud as she flapped an arm at him from where she had sunk down to the floor. "It's Hound, go make sure he's alright." She told him.

Much to Nathanial's surprise, the ornery medic didn't jump down Aria's throat for giving him orders. Instead the old mech eyed her sternly for a klik, and then turned to Nathanial.

"She does not move from this spot." He told the suddenly very still man.

Nathanial made sure to nod.

Ratchet shot Aria another warning look, but she saw the worried edge to it, even if Nathanial didn't.

"I'm alright," she told him again, "just _hurry_." She urged him.

Ratchet nodded, shot Nathanial a warning look of his own, and then ran out the door.

Not sure what the do, Nathanial stood there awkwardly a long moment. Peg just rolled her large eyes at him and then walked over to where Aria had buried her face in her up drawn knees. Carefully, Peg settled herself on the ground behind the girl, letting her lean against her solid frame. Aria immediately threw her arms around Peg's wiry neck and buried her face in her mane.

Then Peg stared Nathanial down.

Finally, he approached uncertainly. He didn't hear any sign that Aria was crying, but he could see a shiver run down her shoulders every so often. Peg just continued to stare at him until he awkwardly put a hand on Aria's shoulder.

Her head came up when he did. "I'm alright," she said instantly, sniffing a little before her voice steadied, "I'm alright. I'm just, just fine."

Nathanial sat down cross legged across from her and Peg. He was quietly awed by her reaction. It gave Aria's earlier words about family a whole deeper level of meaning.

"He'll be alright." Nathanial told her shortly, not sure what else to say. "Hound's no push over, and more importantly, neither is Ratchet."

It worked. His words managed to coax the tiniest laugh from her. She nodded, but leaned back against Peg all the same, her gaze drifting somewhere else then the empty room they were sitting in.

Nathanial had had enough of silence for the day. "How did you know it was Hound that was hurt?" He asked, remembering how Ratchet hadn't even questioned her when she'd told him it was Hound.

If Aria hadn't felt so miserable from the aftershock left by her bond with Hound she would have kicked herself for not watching her mouth around Nathanial. She briefly thought about telling him it was part of her extenuating circumstance and leaving it at that, but she didn't want to even get that close to the truth. Not now when she felt vulnerable enough as it was.

"Hound's always the one getting hurt." She told him, a grim smile flickering quickly across her face as she thought that there was at least a smidgen of truth in that statement.

She wasn't sure if Nathanial bought it completely, but since he didn't press the matter she thought she must have done well enough.

The two humans were distracted as Peg spoke up. _"The fighting's ending."_ She told them.

Aria and Nathanial followed her gaze out the window and saw that the darker painted combatants were retreating, leaving a ragged line of Autobot forces and a frame littered field behind them.

Aria exhaled a relieved breath of air, going slack against Peg's shoulder, letting the worried creature hold her up for a brief second. "Thank goodness," she breathed.

_"Yes,"_ Nathanial thought as he gave the emptying battlefield a hard look, _"goodness."_

But he was distracted from his cynicism by Aria trying to stand up. "Where are you going?" He asked her somewhat sharply.

Aria frowned at him. "To go see Hound. What does it look like I'm doing?"

Nathanial lightly tugged at her arm, only meaning to get her attention, but she ended up sinking back to the ground next to Peg instead. His worried look only intensified. "You're in no shape to go see anyone. And besides," he added, "just what do you think Ratchet will _do_ to me if I let you just walk into his med bay after he explicitly told me that you're not supposed to go anywhere?"

Aria's mouth turned down at one corner, but she settled back against Peg anyway. "Well it's not like I'm going to escape a visit there anyway." She grumbled.

Nathanial leaned back and cocked his head to stare at her with one eye. "I knew it." He muttered.

Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "Knew what?"

It was hard to keep the smile off of his face, even if it was a pale imitation of the real thing. "I just knew you wanted him to freeze me. It all makes perfect sense now."

It was a bad joke, but when a smoking Wheeljack entered the room a few kliks later to bring Aria to Ratchet, he was still confused to see the two humans laughing almost hysterically to themselves.

He chalked it up to an organic stress reliever and continued about his orbit.


	16. Chapter 16: A Different Sort of War

Woo yeah, next chapter! Still hyped up on Botcon love and glee so if I seem giddier then usual, that would be why. That and I just painted the cutest little chibi Bluestreak I've ever done! Squee!

^u.u^ Mrs. Mittens resignedly reminds me that he's the only chibi Bluestreak I've done so...yeah.

:3 Puggle Bluestreak doesn't mind cuz he rather likes it and he hopes I do more of him even though I told him that Wheeljack was bugging me to draw him too but that was okay because it would be awful lonesome if he was the only chibi around, that and it would be really difficult to play any kind of team sports without, well, a team to play them with and-

Wait! Wait a minute! No more dictation! It makes my hand hurt...ow...

3,: Aw, Puggle Bluestreak is sad...okay, I forgive him!

n_n; Okay okay, like I said, I'm still hyped up on the amazingness that was Botcon (and getting to hear Peter Cullen speak! *Fangirl shriek!*) And if any of you are confused by what a puggle is and why Bluestreak has been miraculously turned into one, just pop over to callykarishokka over at Deviantart and you'll understand. n_n; sorry again about the massive sidetrackedness that just took place...I have no real excuse...

Oh well! Now on to business! It has been pointed out to me that LRH is a lot more depressing then it's predecessor ILAW! And well, it is, and to be truthful, it'll probably get a lot worse before it gets better...but that does not keep the bots from giving into their silliness programing every once in a while! And now just might be one of those times... ;)

Great shout outs go to Bee4ever, Suzumehime, Minirowan, Mercedes Wolfcry, Just Watch Me, MaGiCal MoOn, Birigtte LP (yay! You're back!) for reviewing the last last chapter, and NightWing101, annebellelennox, Vivian Hale (I'm working on it...sorta... ;3) and Autobot-Bre for their latest reviews too! You all are Awesome! With a capitol A and everything. Love you all lots! And everybody else out there too! Hope you enjoy the silliness that's coming! Now I should go before this ridiculously long topnote becomes a chapter all in its own right...*sheepish grin* eh he he...

...

The Long Road Home

16 – A Different Sort of War – 16

A lull appeared after the battle. With the presence of the darkened Decepticons it had been one of the hardest fought in some time. Both sides needed at least a little time to recuperate, a little breathing space as Aria would say.

Unfortunately, the Autobots' had a problem. A source of constant inner turmoil that prevented them from recharging in relative peace. There was really only one way to accurately describe this disrupter of the peace, one chilling little word that had grown mechs groaning and Prowl wanting to just bolt himself in his quarters until the Decepticons reappeared.

Sideswipe.

You would think that he would be just as worn out as everybody else after his not-inconsiderable part in the battle, but no. He wasn't. If anything, he seemed more energized then before, and twice as determined to 'cheer' everybody else up.

And of course, where one twin was, the other wouldn't be far behind, especially when Sunstreaker managed to wrangle the promise of uninterrupted rest out of his brother in return for him helping Sideswipe further his 'noble cause of cheer'.

And yes, those were his exact words.

They thought hard about who to start with.

"Who do you think needs our brand of noble, uplifting, goody goodness the most Sunny?" Sides asked his brother as they plotted-er, _considered_ who to help out first.

Sunstreaker looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well, I think the choice is rather obvious actually." He glanced at his brother. "Who sits around base and does practically nothing all orbit?"

Sideswipe grinned deviously. They were thinking the exact same thing.

"Aria." They both said.

...

Despite what the twin's thought, Aria was having a decidedly good morning the next orbit. Not only were Hound and the others who had been injured in the fight healing quite nicely, but she had gotten a letter from Cloudraker, one of the seven bots she had looked after when they were nothing more then glowballs wrapped in wires.

_"Well," _Aria thought to herself as she started to whistle _Smile, Darn Ya, Smile _as she practically skipped down the hall, _"maybe letter isn't quite the right word."_ She thought as she pictured her mini-sized datapad the letter was kept on, _"but it's close enough."_

She gave an extra hop and a girly little squeak as she walked through the med bay to the storage room where Nathanial still insisted on sleeping. Not that Aria insisted he change his mind really.

"Letters from loved ones, letters from loved ones," she murmured to herself in a sing song voice as she keyed open the door with an extra little flounce. Then she gave an extra cheerful whistle as she all but bounced into the room.

"Nathanial?" Aria called as she walked into the small, dark room, "Hey Nat, you up yet?" She called up at the counter. When she didn't hear an answer she huffed a sigh with a smile and clambered up the ladder set against the table top.

"Nat? Nat!" Aria exclaimed when she saw he was still sleeping.

Nathanial jumped slightly as Aria's chipper voice shocked him out of his sleep. He snatched the hat away from his eyes, one hand automatically reaching for his field knife, but he stopped when he caught sight of Aria staring at him, trying not to grin. Aria bit her lip to keep from laughing at him as he looked around groggily, brown hair messed up and sticking up in different directions from sleeping on his saddle.

"Your hair looks like a bird's nest." She pointed out before looking him up and down again and grimacing slightly. "You look awful. Couldn't you sleep well?"

"Well it's nice to see you too." Nathanial grumbled. Then with a groan he sat up and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. "And no, bad dreams."

Aria gave a little 'oh' of understanding, but even then she was still in too good a mood to feel down. "Well come on Sleeping Beauty. Up and at 'em! We've got stuff to do today, bots to find." She told him.

_"Who are you finding?"_ Peg spoke up as she half opened her eyes to see what Aria wanted.

Aria grinned and stepped over to run a hand down Peg's long nose. "Oh, just Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. They have something of mine and I'm going to get it back no matter what they seem to think. And then we get to go sort out the intercity communications in the mail room!" She chirped.

"Oh goody," Nathanial groused through a yawn. Aria sounded far too cheerful about all this for his liking. "And none of this could wait until later?"

Aria looked over at him. "It's already halfway through the morning. You slept in mister."

"Wonderful." Was all Nathanial had to say.

"Well come on, come on!" Aria hurried him as she went back over to the ladder. "Let's get a move on. Sunny and Sides' already have a head start on me and I really need this thing back!"

_"What are you searching for anyway?"_ Peg asked, quite calm since _she_ wasn't the one that had to get up and go. Peg knew it must be very important to Aria if she was willing to chase down _those_ two to get it back.

Aria propped her hands on her hips and frowned into the middle distance. "Those sneaks stole my datapad," she told them, looking cross, but somehow still smiling, "And right after I got a letter from one of my other brothers too!"

That got Nathanial's attention. "You mean there're _more_ of them?" He very nearly whined. It was much too early for news like that. He could hardly handled Val and Bumblebee as it was! At least Bluestreak was civil, even if the mech still wasn't certain of him yet…

Aria grinned unashamedly at him. "There's seven total. And then Mei Mei too of course."

Nathanial stared blearily up at her a moment. Then he let his head flop, face first, back into his makeshift pillow with a groan.

But Aria would not be put off for long. "Come on! Come on!" She urged Nathanial, shaking him by the arm. "Let's go already. If we wait much longer they'll hide it and I'll have to wait for Wheeljack to find enough time to make me a whole new datapad before I can read my letter!" She pouted.

"How does this involve me again?" Nathanial asked without unburying his face out of the saddle.

Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you really have anything better to do?"

Nathanial moved his head just enough to look at her with one eye. He had run through enough practice drills with Peg yesterday to satisfy even the strictest of drill sergeants, and he was just plain tired from the effort. He thought about sleeping some more…but given last night's tossing and turning he doubted he'd get any actual rest.

"…no." He eventually grumbled.

Aria perked up considerably knowing that she'd won. "Good," she told him, "so get a move on. Prowl told me they were in the rec room probably ten cycles ago. If we hurry we might catch them!" She told him before excitedly sliding down the ladder to the floor.

Nathanial groaned and slumped after her.

...

"So just to be sure," Nathanial said somewhat uneasily a few minutes later as they made their way down to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's last known location, "we're really going to chase down the twin terrors just for a letter?"

"Let me put it this way," Aria said as they turned the final corner, "would _you _want them reading _your_ mail?"

Nathanial stopped and thought about that. Then he turned to the door they were now standing in front of. "Prowl said they're in here then yes?" He pointed at the closed rec room door by way of answer.

Aria grinned widely and nodded once. "Yep. Glad you see things my way. Now let's go get the sneaky little brats."

Nathanial didn't feel very reassured by the manic look that sprung into Aria's eyes as she opened the door and stepped through.

"It's just going to be one of those days…" he mumbled to himself in resignation as he followed her.

There were a handful of mechs inside, but unfortunately none of them were Sideswipe or Sunstreaker. Topspin, however, just pointed through the side door when he saw Aria looking around, not even pausing in his conversation with another Wrecker Nathanial didn't recognize and Aria was too preoccupied to introduce.

They followed the twins' trail through the little room beyond, through the following domestic quarters, past the main entrance to the building, and then with Jazz's guidance, went up three levels, down a hallway, through a storage room, and onto the main level of the floor beneath it.

When they entered the large, open room, Nathanial was met with probably the strangest sight he had seen since he had gotten here. Obstacles had been set up at various places in the cavernous room and a handful of bots were scattered about, hiding out behind the different barriers. Three in particular were very familiar.

"Hey Aria!" Bluestreak called out with an excited wave when he saw his 'sort of' sister come through the door. His shout made the two mechs crouched down next to him look up. And then Val and Bumblebee ducked farther down behind their cover as Bluestreak's shout attracted a handful of shots as well.

Nathanial froze in the door, visibly paling as he realized he had almost stepped onto some sort of mech sized shooting range. His heart just about stopped altogether when Aria just waved back before running over to Bluestreak.

Across the open floor with nothing to save her from a stray bullet except the fact that the shooters happened to like her.

"Aria!" Nathanial hissed after her, barely stopping himself from stepping onto the field, again. "What are you _doing_?"

She looked at him over her shoulder from where she was halfway across the floor, totally oblivious to the shots whizzing over her head. "Oh would you relax? It's only paint. The live range is down a few floors." She said it like it should be obvious.

One of the shots suddenly went wide (either that or Val had noticed he was there too) and there was a terrific _splat!_ as one of the shots exploded a foot in front of Nathanial. He jumped before he finally realized that the ground where it had hit was suddenly neon blue.

"Paint," he heard himself mutter as his heart continued at its break neck speed from Aria's carefree dash across the floor, "of course it's only paint. It's not like it's an uncommon practice for a bunch of aliens to go running after each other shooting _paint_."

He was hardly aware he was mumbling as he, carefully, followed Aria over to where she was talking with Bluestreak, Bumblebee, and Val.

_Splat. Splat, splat._

_ Sssss-plat._

Nathanial felt a nervous sweat roll down his temple as the floor in front of him suddenly turned blue, green, and bright pink, all in terrific neon shades. He looked up rather slowly, afraid of who it was he might see.

On the other side of the room, Ironhide just smirked at him before disappearing back behind another one of the obstacles scattered about the room. Since he had gotten back, Nathanial had done his best to avoid the cantankerous mech, but he'd had only limited success. It was hard to avoid someone when Aria was determined to get them to at least be nice to each other. Given the dark looks the black mech kept giving him, along with the contemptuous snorts, Nathanial didn't think that was going to happen any time soon.

That, and Ironhide had fallen into the disconcerting habit of referring to Nathanial as 'Target Practice'.

Not waiting for the gruff mech to reappear – or take a few more potshots at him – Nathanial sped up and quickly joined Aria where she stood with the three younger mechs sitting out of sight of the other players.

"Nah, I haven't seen 'em. But then, I just got here. This last briefing about the battle yesterday took _forever_." Val groaned as Nathanial came up. The man was still so out of it though, that he didn't even sense his danger as the young brown-gray bot turned to mildly glare at him.

"What's his problem?" He jerked his chin at the blinking man.

Aria turned to see what he was talking about. Then she laughed when she saw Nathanial's anxious look at the paint that was now flying over the obstacle the three mechs were hiding behind. "Nothing really. He's just never heard of paintball before." She grinned widely.

Nathanial snapped out of his daze enough to notice Val roll his optics as Bumblebee snickered behind his hand. "Stupid human." Val said.

Aria whacked him, her hand making a dull clanging sound against his metal skin. "Behave." She told him warningly.

Nathanial would have given Val his own comeback, but he was prevented by a large dark gray and blue hand appearing almost directly in his face to snap its fingers at him a couple of times. "Are you sure he's alright Aria?" Bluestreak spoke up. "I mean, he looks a little white around the edges. Maybe he's having some kind of pump malfunction. Should we call Ratchet? He's learned an awful lot about human biology from taking care of you all this time. He's got to know what he's doing by now right? So what do we do if he starts turning funny colors and all that? Nathanial that is, not Ratchet. Ratchet doesn't change colors," he miraculously paused a brief second as he thought.

"Well," he started up almost right again, "at least not without the twins' help anyway. Weren't you looking for them? They disappeared into the maze right before you got here. I think I heard Sunny say he didn't want to get his paint messed up because of our bad aim." The blue mech rolled his own optics in a mild kind of scoff. "Just what does he take me for anyway? An amateur?" He frowned.

Aria patted his ankle consolingly. "We know you're a good shot Blue. Sunny's just all ticked because you stole his 'con in that last battle. That and he's probably just afraid you three will paint him green again." She told him with a secretive grin. From the answering grins her boys gave her, Nathanial took it to mean that painting Sunstreaker green was a private joke.

"So you said they went into the maze a little bit ago yeah?" Aria asked, hands on her hips as she surveyed a door set in the far wall.

Bluestreak nodded as, behind him, Bumblebee raised himself just over the top of their cover to get a few shots off at the other team. His grin as he ducked back down, along with Ironhide's muffled curses from the other side of the room, said that he'd hit what he was aiming for.

"Yeah, about five cycles ago. If you run you can catch them before they really get themselves lost in there." Bluestreak answered Aria as Val gave Bumblebee a high five.

Aria nodded once in determination. "Right. Thanks Blue! Come on Nat, let's go get those blasted wonder twins." She told him. Then before he could say anything, she grabbed his wrist and yanked him after her to the far end of the obstacle that hid them from the other players' sight. Aria peaked around the edge, then waved at her boys with a grin before darting around the edge and bolting to the safety of the far wall.

Nathanial blinked after her. Then slowly looked behind him as he realized he was now standing alone with three over protective brothers, the smallest of which was probably sixteen feet tall at least.

Val raised his optic ridges at him, while Bumblebee mildly glared at him. Bluestreak just looked down at him, wondering why the new human was just standing there.

_"I should've just stayed in bed."_ Nathanial thought to himself before turning and making his own zigzagging way across the room. He managed to avoid any direct shots when he finally reached the other side of the room where Aria was waiting for him by the door.

_"No doubt because Ironhide was tagged 'out'." _Nathanial thought as he stopped in front of Aria, breathing only a little hard. Then when he realized he hadn't gotten painted (on accident or otherwise…) he relaxed, spreading his arms wide, and grinned at Aria.

"Well, I made it in one piece. I guess your brothers are going to keep me around for awhile yet." He said, striving to keep his tone light, even though he could still feel Val scowling at him over the top of the obstacle.

Aria laughed. "Only until I give them the word. Then their over-protective hides will be all over you."

Nathanial knew she was teasing, but his laugh was a little nervous anyway. "I guess I'll have to make sure to stay on your good side then."

Across the room, Val, Bumblebee, and Bluestreak watched as their sister suddenly laughed at the second human and gave him a happy smile. Bumblebee's scowl darkened as the three of them stared over the top of their cover while Val went so far as to growl at the pair. Bluestreak just rolled his optics at the two of them.

"I don't get what your problem is." He said for what felt like the thousandth time since they had been introduced to the new human. "He's seems fine to me. In fact," he gathered his courage, "I think he's nice."

Val's optics rolled to the side to stare at Bluestreak sitting in his peripheral vision. "He's not _nice_," he growled, "he's weird. I mean look at that!" He suddenly yelled, throwing an arm out to point at their older sister and her new 'friend'. "Why's she keep smiling at him like that? It's freaking me out!"

Bluestreak just shrugged. "I dunno. But it's been forever since I've seen her smile like that. Maybe we should just leave them alone." He shot Val a hard look to let him know he was serious.

Val returned the look. "And leave Jie Mei in his soft skinned organic clutches? I don't think so." He crossed his arms over his strong chest. "No way, and besides, don't you remember what 'Bee told us? The guy's just plain weird!"

Bluestreak looked up at the ceiling. "Dear Primus," he muttered, silently asking for patience before turning back to Val. "Bumblebee didn't tell us anything. Only that the new guy did something to frag Jie Mei off when they first found him. And that could be any number of things!" He pointed out.

"Yeah," Val muttered darkly as he went back to glaring daggers at Nathanial's back, "like he hit her or something."

Even 'Bee was brought up short by that. "What?" He squawked. "Don't be stupid. I said he did something crazy, not something like _that_." Bumblebee hissed.

Val's shoulders lowered in a sulk as he regained some tenable grip on his sanity. "Alright fine. So he probably just stole her clothes when she was out at the reservoir or something, but it's still the principle of the thing that matters!"

Val and Bluestreak were briefly distracted from their argument by Bumblebee suddenly going stiff between them. Bluestreak immediately looked around, thinking that one of the other players had finally succeeded on sneaking up on them, but the field behind them was clear. He peaked around their cover to see that the other five mechs on the playing field had gotten tired of trying to flush the three younger mechs out of hiding and were busy shooting paint and friendly insults at each other on the other side of the room.

"What? What is it?" Val demanded, his head whipping around as he did his own check of the surroundings.

Bumblebee managed to find his voice box again. "Wha-how?" He stuttered before managing to make any kind of sense. "Who told you that?" He demanded angrily.

Val and Blue looked at Bumblebee. "Who told us what?" Bluestreak asked, feeling confused.

But Val's optics went wide as realization smacked him upside the head. "No…" he whispered softly, "no…he _didn't_. Oh that's it, he is _so_ going down for this." Val snuck another glare over at Nathanial's unsuspecting back.

"What? What'd he do?" Bluestreak demanded. He didn't like being left in the dark.

"He saw Jie Mei without her _plating!"_ Val hissed. "That's it! That's it, I've had it! He's dead."

Bluestreak and Bumblebee shared a concerned look as Val shot to his feet, only to be yanked back down as the other two realized what he was doing. A sharp burst of paintballs whizzed through the air where Val had been two kliks before.

"Are you crazy?" Bumblebee hissed at him. "Do you know what Jie Mei'll do to me if she finds out I pretty much told you what happened?"

"So what? He's gone too far this time. She'll thank us for it later." Val hissed back.

Bluestreak ignored them to sneak another look at Nathanial and Aria where they were still talking by the door. "It's a miracle he's still functional." He murmured to himself.

Another sharp clank from Bumblebee pulling Val back to the ground again brought him back to the near catastrophe at hand.

"Guys! Guys! Wait a second," Bluestreak quietly shouted at them to get their attention, then pointed over at the door, "look."

The other two mechs paused in their scuffle long enough to peer around their shelter. If she had been watching them, Aria probably would have laughed at how their three heads poked, one over the other, around the side of their cover. But she wasn't looking at them. Instead, she was laughing lightheartedly at something Nathanial had told her.

"She looks like she's forgiven him to me." Bluestreak said in a low voice.

Bumblebee eyed the pair long and hard, obviously still not sure about this. Val grumbled darkly, but neither argued with the older mech.

"Yeah, alright, so I won't _kill _him," Val grumbled as the three of them ducked back behind their oddly shaped rock. Then he suddenly started to grin. Bluestreak felt his doorwings stiffen nervously. "But that doesn't mean I won't shoot him."

_"Oh no,"_ Bluestreak had just enough time to groan to himself before Val stood up and quickly shot at the second human. As soon as he stood up, paint filled bullets made contact with his chest, head, and shoulders, leaving bright colors dripping down his armor, but Val was too busy watching his shot explode a few feet away from the human male to pay them much attention.

Across the room, Nathanial's world suddenly exploded in a neon purple cloud of sticky color.

"Yes!" Val hissed, throwing one arm up in victory. Bluestreak and Bumblebee were quick to yank him down again. He was already out of the game, but maybe hiding behind their shelter could save him from what was sure to be a spectacular explosion on their sister's part.

"You idjit!" Bluestreak hissed at Val. "You got Jie Mei purple painted too!"

Val just brushed him off. "No I didn't. The guy was standing right in front of her. Turns out he makes an excellent shield. Who knew he was good for something huh?" He asked his friends with an extra large, cheesy grin.

Even Bumblebee looked a little exasperated now, and he didn't like Nathanial almost as much as Val, although at least now Bluestreak knew why.

"Feel better?" The smaller, yellow bot asked Val sardonically.

The other mech gave him a thumbs up. "Yep. Much better. Like I said, it was all in the principle of the thing."

Bluestreak gave the youngest Wrecker a flat look. "And just what, exactly, _is_ the principle here Val?" He asked, although in all honestly he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

Val nodded sharply once. "That if the little weasel wants to look at my sister without her funny organic plating, then I'm going to shoot him with a paintball gun."

Bumblebee rolled his eyes. Bluestreak reached a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. His head was starting to ache. "I'm not sure you can call that a 'principle' Val." He told him.

Val's abruptly fine mood was apparently logic proof. "What you talking about? It's a wonderful principle. It's so wonderful it could run one of those organic learning facilities Jie Mei told us about."

Bluestreak just groaned.

He was so busy shaking his head at Val that he didn't notice when one of the other mechs managed to sneak over to the obstacle behind there's. At least, he didn't know until a paintball smacked him sharply between the doorwings.

"Ouch!" He shouted, jumping a little as the thing stung him. He twisted around to see what had abruptly bit him, but only saw a very smug Cliffjumper waving at him.

"Oh man…" Bumblebee groaned as he looked down at the trail of green staining his bright armor, "I'm out too."

Val however, just looked even _more_ pleased. "Oh good, now we're _all _out of the game. Tough break, but you know what that means!" He said in an overly cheerful voice.

Bluestreak stared at his friend, completely unamused by this. "It means you saw him coming and you didn't bother to tell us."

Val looked up. "Maybe…but that's not what it means. It means that now we can go give Aria a hand getting her datapad back from the wonder twins."

"And by 'getting back her datapad back' you mean 'spy on her and Nathanial from a distance' right?" Bumblebee asked, somewhere between aggravated and amused at Val.

Val gave them a crooked grin. "Oh yeah…"

Then without another word, he took off towards the door Aria and Nathanial had disappeared through to get away from anymore purple paint clouds.

Bluestreak looked over at Bumblebee and was relieved to see even he looked a little leery about this.

"You think its worse to follow him and possibly get blamed for whatever it is he's about to do, or stay here and leave him alone, unsupervised?" Bluestreak asked 'Bee.

The yellow mech hardly needed to think about that. "Unsupervised. Definitely worse unsupervised."

Bluestreak nodded, and then led the way after Val.


	17. Chapter 17: A Different Sort of War Pt 2

Ugh, stuck in the doctors office _and _I had to hurry up from my campus where I was in the middle of cleaning a particularly disgusting bathtub so I could check out. I didn't even get to finish! Which meas there's still more! u.u Wah...Oh well, at least they have wi-fi here. I didn't expect that.

Now on to the good stuffs! If this chapter can't cheer me up (and the rest of you guys that are having 'cleaning bathtub' kind of days) then I don't know what will! Well, that last chapter might...I know I wrote it, but I got a particularly smiley sort of feeling when I re-read it. I get a smiley feeling with this chapter too, but there's some seriousness mixed in. But we get that out of the way first. Let's just say Aria finally has a "Eureka! Holy frack!" moment and leave it at that. Val has one too, but his is _far_ more devious... ^,,^ *Uh-oh...be afraid, be very afraid.*

Anyway, speaking of last chapter, I got ELEVEN reviews for it! XD So exciting! Keep it up keep it up! Is all so wonderful I's gonna esplode! :3 *Bounces off into the waiting room window with the force of her happies*

]:3 Puggle Bluestreak - If you can't tell, she's awfully grateful to all the reviewers. And the viewers. And the alerters. Alerted? Alerting? Alert-

^-.-^ *Just get on with it. And for Heaven's sake apologize for her spelling mistakes.*

o.o *Mrs. Mittens is a spelling Nazi...okay, not really, she's just been put out of sorts by the word 'bathtub'...Enjoy the chapter! And we hope your end of school/beginning of summer is going good and that Val and the twins' antics only make it better! :)

MaGiCaL MoOn - :D Yay! Although I'm so anti-math that _anyhing_ is better than multyplying radicals. :_ And yeah! The boys are so awesome! Although Aria might want to argue otherwise here pretty soon. n_n; Thank you for reviewing! And I'll definitely try to...

Autobot-Bre - :D Thank you for reviewing too! Alien paintball would be _awe_some. And don't worry, I've brought that up in this chapter. :)

...

The Long Road Home

17 – A Different Sort of War (Pt 2) – 17

"I swear they haven't grown up a day since they were two!" Aria grumbled as she stood on the other side of the door, trying to clean the paint off of Nathanial's now very purple back. Behind her, she could just hear the mechs laughing as someone else was eliminated from the paintball match.

Nathanial grinned slightly over his shoulder at her. "Don't worry about it. I can't help but think that if I was in their shoes and some stranger just suddenly appeared out of the blue to be friends with my little sister, I wouldn't like him much either." Of course, that didn't make Val and them any easier to deal with, but at least he could understand it.

Aria frowned at him anyway. "They still have the maturity, or lack thereof, of two year olds." She told him before going back to rubbing at his shirt with the handkerchief he had given her, not that it was doing much good except dying the white square purple. "And I'm their _older _sister too. I don't need them painting you purple just because they don't like you."

"Yes, but you're their older, little, sister." Nathanial pointed out to her, trying to restore her humor.

Aria just rubbed at the back of his shirt.

Nathanial sighed and shook his head. "Aria, relax. It's only paint."

Aria gave the back of his head a flat look. Then without saying anything, she lightly poked him in the shoulder.

Nathanial stiffened. "Oww…" he managed to strangle past his abruptly constricted throat.

Aria made an unhappy noise in the back of her own. "Hmph, only paint. Except for the bruises you'll have because half of you was too close to the paint ball." She griped. "I don't understand this game. It's like it was invented by half hearted masochists! No one dies but they're all covered in welts and bruises."

"But, weren't you the one to introduce them to this game?" Nathanial asked her slowly. It seemed like the kind of thing only bored humans could make up really.

He felt more then saw Aria's flat stare. "Be quiet, hold still, and let me finish." She said before going back to wiping at his shirt, making Nathanial flinch slightly.

Finally he sighed again and reached behind him to grab her wrist to make her stop. "Don't even bother. One little handkerchief's not going to do much good against alien sized paintballs." He told her as he half brought her around, half turned himself, so he could face her.

Aria was caught by surprise when she suddenly found herself staring directly at him. Not knowing what else to do, she froze, purple rag still in the hand Nathanial had caught. She still wasn't used to being touched, especially by someone of her own species for a change, so she couldn't help but stare at him a moment. The she realized she _was_ staring and she felt her face turn neon red. A claustrophobic feeling suddenly wrapped around her lungs, making it a little difficult to breathe. She knew in the back of her mind that she was surrounded by practically nothing but space, but somehow the less then twelve inches that sat between her and Nathanial made the world suddenly seem very, very small.

_"If this it how it feels just standing next to somebody then I'm never getting in another elevator as long as I live." _Aria's heard herself think. She immediately blamed her hysteria on her slight oxygen depravation.

A little alarm abruptly went off in the back of her head as she realized what was going on, making her take an automatic step back. Her sudden movement shattered whatever strange silence that had fallen between them and the claustrophobic feeling promptly vanished.

"Well…" Aria said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

Nathanial must have been affected by the sudden strangeness too because he looked away and said, somewhat nervously, "So…"

Aria looked up at him, just as he looked over at her. They laughed nervously into the awkwardness that separated them.

Not liking how this was making her face heat up, Aria suddenly shook herself. "Well what are we standing around here for? We can deal with Val later. Now let's go get those letter thieves!" She said, punching the air with mock boldness.

Nathanial followed silently behind her until they reached the first fork in the maze a short way from the door. He peered one way as Aria peered the other.

"So," he said again, some of the awkwardness still in his voice, "which way do you think they went?"

Aria concentrated hard on trying to discern any sense of 'twinness' from the two different paths. "Good question," she muttered as she narrowed her eyes down the other way.

Nathanial watched her for a moment. "Do you know your way around this maze?" He asked.

Aria shook her head. "Nope, they change it every few orns so no one can learn the thing by heart. Since this is supposed to be a training exercise, that wouldn't be very helpful, now would it?" She turned to grin at him, returning more to her usual self.

"No," Nathanial muttered half heartedly, "I suppose not. Although it would make things easier for us."

Aria frowned thoughtfully as she nodded again. "Yeah, we don't exactly want to get lost in there. Knowing those two, Sides and Sunny probably know a way to cheat the maze, so…" she trailed off in thought.

A moment later her eyes lit up and Nathanial knew she had an idea. The part he found disconcerting though, was the fact that she was staring straight at him. "What?" He asked her.

She didn't answer. Or at least, not directly. Instead she gave him a mischievous look before suddenly reaching out and lightly shoving him in the chest. He stumbled back a step before the wall stopped him.

He frowned at her. "What was that for?" He asked her in mild confusion.

Aria pointed over his shoulder at the wall. "Didn't you ever want to leave a mark on society?" She asked him teasingly.

Eyebrows furrowed, Nathanial stepped away from the wall and turned to see what she was talking about. Behind him was a life sized, purple, silhouette of his upper back and shoulders.

He rolled his eyes and smiled, catching on. "I get it," he told her, "I'm a stamp. Ha ha."

Aria smiled and laughed before dramatically pointing at the path to their left. "Right, we'll go this way."

"You think this is the one they took?" Nathanial asked as he followed her deeper into the maze.

Aria shrugged. "Well they usually don't take the right path to anything so…" she trailed off, grinning.

Nathanial shut his eyes and groaned lightly. "Ha ha, you're so punny today. I can't stand it."

Aria stuck her tongue out at him for good measure, but she couldn't say she was upset at the banter.

They made their way deeper into the maze, coming across more and more splits in the path as they went. The walls towered even over mechs like Optimus, so there was no way they could see over them, however sound bounced like crazy against all of the different walls, so sound traveled easily enough. Although whether that was a curse or a blessing wasn't quite clear yet.

They talked a little at first, but the conversation quickly fell off when they discovered how loudly their words echoed. They didn't want to alert the twins that they were following them, if they were still in here anyway, so they gradually just stopped talking.

Aria wasn't sure which was worse, talking and giving themselves away, or not talking and being left alone with her own thoughts. She slanted a look over at Nathanial, but he was staring up at the walls, searching for any clues of annoying gold or silver mechs. If he was feeling any sort of inner emotional turmoil about their conversation by the window the other day, he sure didn't show it.

_"If he even remembers it," _Aria thought somewhat depressingly. They hadn't talked about what they'd said since Wheeljack had taken her away to Ratchet to make sure she was alright after the emotional aftershock she'd gotten from her bond with Hound. She had been nervous when Nathanial had just suddenly showed up to visit her, but it had quickly become obvious that he wasn't about to bring up the extremely personal things that had been said.

_"And I'm not about to bring it up by myself."_ She thought, mortified at the idea. _"Because,"_ she tried to reasonably justify her fear, _"because, well, what if he doesn't want to talk about it? What if that's all he was ever going to say because it didn't mean what I thought it meant?"_

She wasn't sure what it meant anymore, only that it had made her feel something she hadn't felt in a long time now; wanted.

_"He thinks I'm worth it." _She thought again in disbelief. _"He thinks I'm worth more then this. And – not that I think he's completely right – but, well, most of them _do _treat me like a kid. Except for the actual kids,"_ she grinned slightly as she thought of Bumblebee and Val and the other young bots, _"but that's okay because, honestly, I _am_ very young compared to them, and if their not older then me then they're my younger siblings, and kid brothers aren't exactly known for treating their sisters respectfully, no matter how loving they are."_ She thought of the most recent paintballing incident with a roll of her eyes.

_"I think…" _she fell back to thinking as she walked, _"I think that's my problem. He doesn't treat me like the bots treat me. I'm not a child to him, and I'm not his older sister so instead he treats me like a, a," _she inwardly stumbled over the word, _"a woman."_

It felt weird even to think it. She wasn't used to thinking of herself as a grown woman, much less being treated like one.

And the weird part, well, alright, the weird_er_ part, was that, somewhere, deep down inside, she actually liked it.

Another realization followed hard on the heels of this, shocking Aria into stopping, one foot frozen in the air.

_"Holy cow!" _She thought, her subconscious narrowly avoiding a different word, _"I like him! I actually, honestly like him!"_

Her leg started to ache from holding her foot up, and she remembered to put it down before Nathanial saw her. She walked quickly to catch up with him before settling back into a more normal pace.

_"I have feelings for him." _Her brain mumbled through her lingering shock, but it quickly woke back up again. _"Since when did _that _happen?"_

She couldn't pinpoint an exact answer; she only knew it was true. She liked him. And she wanted him to like her. But then, if he did – and based on what he had said she felt safe in at least _hoping_ that he did – then why hadn't he said anything?

_"He said I was worth it."_ She reminded herself.

Something in her chest gave a half frightened, half hopeful flutter and Aria thought – she wasn't completely sure, but she _thought_ – it was what was left of her heart.

_"Worth it." _She thought somewhat dazedly. _"He thinks I'm worth it."_

She suddenly frowned at his back. _"Then why the frack doesn't he say anything?"_ She demanded.

_"Maybe for the same reason you won't?" _Aria's inner voice (the annoying one Prowl had implanted in her head with his ridiculous laundry list of rules she thought) spoke up before she could gag her again.

Aria huffed, but couldn't dispute the point. She knew herself well enough to know that she wasn't about to dive off of any bridges until she was sure someone was going to throw her a life raft. So for the time being, they were stuck in a standstill.

_"A very awkward standstill." _Aria muttered darkly.

Aria was abruptly snapped out of her thoughts when Nathanial suddenly stopped in front of her. She squeaked in surprised at the abrupt halt, but managed not to run into him and purplefy her nose in the process.

"Do you hear that?" Nathanial asked before Aria could demand to know what he was doing.

Aria swallowed her frustration and listened. For a moment she didn't hear anything, but then a burst of sneaky laughter drifted towards them from somewhere in the maze ahead of them.

A wide smile slowly took it's rightful place on Aria's face. "We're getting closer." She sang in a whisper voice, making Nathanial grin at her. Although from the crooked edge it had to it, Aria thought he was just as excited to lay hands on the troublesome mechs too.

They jogged ahead, not wanting to go too fast incase they went down the wrong path and dead ended somewhere. After some hard listening, they turned down another branch of the maze, Nathanial marking their way with purple coated shoulders every once in a while.

The twins' laughing got a little louder and they followed it down another turn only to come to a hard stop when a mech suddenly appeared in front of them.

Hound looked over at them as they came around the corner too fast, and held a finger to his mouth for silence, then he pointed at the path farther on. Sideswipe's voice echoed from up ahead.

"Oh I'm a lucky fella! I'm a lucky mech!" He sang, changing the words as he went.

Aria grinned as she stopped near Hound's feet. Her grin grew even wider when she saw the cable he held in his hand. She followed it with her eyes until it led her way up to the ceiling where a darkly colored net blended in with the shadows.

She grinned up at him again. "Revenge for the taunting?" She asked him softly.

"Oh yeah," Hound just as softly answered back.

Sideswipe kept on singing, oblivious to his approaching, netty doom. "I've got Aria's letter! Now let's see what it says!"

"One." Hound whispered above her.

"'Dear Jie Mei!'" Sideswipe suddenly started shouting her letter out loud. His voice sounding closer than before now. "'I'm sorry I couldn't write any sooner, but as you've probably already heard, Fastlane managed to hit a stroke of brilliance even as he did one of his stupidest, most dangerous stunts yet.'"

"Two." Hound whispered again, hand tightening on the cable that would drop the net.

Up ahead, two large shadows appeared on the wall as the twins got ever closer. They were close enough now that Sunstreaker didn't need to shout for Aria to hear him. Although he shouted anyway of course.

"Would you stop yelling in my auditor already?" He shouted at his brother. Sideswipe just cackled.

Hound looked down at Aria, who looked over at Nathanial now standing next to her. The three of them started grinning madly. They were ready.

_"THREE!" _They all shouted.

...

From up in the observation room that overlooked the maze, Optimus watched the twins approach their imminent capture with a slightly bemused expression on his face. They were always attracting trouble it seemed. _"But then," _he added to himself, _"it's almost always their own fault. With now as no exception."_

Below him, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker wandered closer to where Hound was lying in wait. Optimus had no idea how the former military caste had gotten that net up on the ceiling, especially when he still needed assistance just walking around (either from some helpful spark or by using the walking stick Ratchet had lent him) but he had a strong suspicion Jazz had something to do with it.

_"Well," _Optimus continued thinking as he watched the show beneath him get closer to its inciting incident, _"maybe this will teach them not to replace walking sticks with oversized candy canes."_

He thought about that.

_"…but then again, maybe not."_

As he watched, the twins lurked closer to Hound's trap. Hound, hidden behind the far corner, hunkered down lower in anticipation. He thought he saw Hound turn to say something to someone else, but from this distance Optimus wasn't sure.

The twins obviously didn't hear the other mech. They were still making their way closer to their impending doom. Curious – and grateful for a slight distraction from the dark thoughts whirling about his head – Optimus watched them, wondering if Hound would succeed in capturing them, or if the twins would end up getting away with their usual unpredictable antics.

Hound said something else to whoever was with him. The twins walked forward, Sunstreaker shoving his brother when the other didn't shut up about something. Even as they took the last few steps towards Hound's net, they didn't appear to notice anything amiss.

_"THREE!"_

Even through the window and the impressive distance, Optimus heard Hound's shout a nanoklik before he pulled the cable and sprung his trap. The twins barely had time to look up before the net dropped over them, tangling them up as they tried, unsuccessfully, to get away.

Optimus shook his head at them as he briefly caught a burst of cussing from the twins, along with a delighted, feminine shriek that he immediately recognized as Aria. He watched through the observational window as Aria's little form darted out from where she must have been standing behind Hound. The trapper himself, hobbled after her with his walking stick, talking to another small form walking more sedately next to him. But even though Nathanial wasn't nearly as excited about capturing the twins, Optimus could still see the man's pride as he walked.

_"I suppose it makes sense," _Optimus thought as he watched Aria run around the struggling twins as she looked for something, _"he hasn't been around them as long as Ariah. They haven't had the chance to rattle him as much." _He allowed himself the smallest of grins, but it quickly died. _"Although at this rate it looks like they'll get more then their fair share of chances."_

He wasn't sure how he felt about that exactly. More then anything the thought made him want to talk with Aria about Iacon's newest guest, but then he remembered the last time she had come to see him and he wondered if he had the right to talk with her about this at all.

He slowly shuttered his optics. _"No."_ He decided. He probably didn't by now.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the door opening and closing behind him. He looked up at the window to see his communications officer's reflection appear on the clear surface.

"Yes Blaster, what is it?"

The other mech held up some datapads for Optimus to see. "Reports mostly." He told him, stopping a few steps into the room. "The usual - updates from Ultra Magnus, status reports from Ratchet about the wounded from the last battle, requests from Wheeljack concerning that, eh, newest thing he's building, oh! And looks like some more disciplinary reports from Prowl about the twins. That at least should be somewhat entertaining." He trailed off, speaking more to himself near the end.

Optimus nodded before turning away from the window. "Alright, I'll look them over. Thank you Blaster." He said coming over to take the different accounts.

But curiously enough the other mech didn't leave. He stood there for the long moment it took Optimus to realize he was still there. The taller mech glanced over at the communications officer to see he was grinning of all things, not very widely, but still, grinning.

Something told Optimus this didn't have to do with whatever trouble Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had caused. Well, whatever trouble _other_ then the sneakery and thieving that had landed them in a net in the next room over.

"Was there something else?" Optimus asked with muted curiosity.

"Well," Blaster said, "weird as it is, I actually have some good news for once. The femmes are coming," he quickly said before Optimus could ask, "Beta said Elita-One had something she needed to tell you that she didn't trust over a communications line. She, Chromia, Arcee, Moonracer, and Firestar should be here by the end of the orn."

Optimus felt his processor freeze, all previous thoughts coming to a standstill. Elita – his Elita – was coming here? Really?

Fortunately for his sanity he didn't say that out loud. Despite the unexpected twists he'd gone through in his life, Optimus was still just as reserved as he had been when he had been Orion Pax – maybe even more so – and there were only a few bots he felt comfortable showing his emotions to freely. And now it just so happened that one of them was coming here, to see him, after a too long time apart.

He managed to force his attention back in the present before his mind could remind him of just how long it had been since he'd seen his sparkmate. From the way Blaster's grin had grown slightly, Optimus guessed he hadn't managed to keep all of his surprise off of his face.

He quickly tried to get his mind back on track. "How long until-"

But Blaster cut him off. "About an orn."

Optimus stopped. He had told him that already. He tried to think if there was anything else he needed to know. The silence ended up stretching between them.

Blaster was trying not to all out grin at his slightly flustered leader. "You all right there Prime?" He asked, managing not to sound _too _amused. "You look a little-"

He was cut off by Optimus' flat look.

"Eh, you know what, never mind." Blaster backtracked. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the room's door. "I'll just be headed back now so-"

A loud, distinctive shriek, followed by an ominous boom and several smaller but no less foreboding crashes put a sharp end to the conversation, much to both mechs' relief.

They shared an 'oh no, _now_ what?' look and then quickly went to the window.

A large column of smoke was rising where Hound, Aria, Nathanial, and the twins had been a few cycles before. For a klik Optimus thought that part of the maze was on fire, but when the emergency procedures didn't kick in to douse any flames, he realized that a part of the maze had just been exploded instead.

_"I feel a headache coming on," _he thought as the smoke thinned out enough for him to make out several figures.

Two of them suddenly exploded out the smoke, one of them raving as they ran back the way they'd came. Optimus wasn't sure with the smoke covering the scene, but he thought that Sunstreaker might have looked a little…greener then usual.

_"Dear Primus, here we go again with the green." _Optimus thought as he shuttered his optics briefly, pinching at the bridge of his nose hoping that would help, but opened them again when Blaster spoke up next to him.

"Man, Aria looks ticked."

Optimus peered through the smoke just in time to see Aria's little figure step calmly out the smoke. She had passed the noisy kind of anger and was now entering that silent, seething fury kind of anger. Personally, Optimus thought this was much more frightening then when she was running around chasing the twins and ranting about what lovely blenders she was going to turn them into.

_"The twins are doomed."_ He thought offhandedly like he was commenting on the weather. Of course, it was a lot like the weather in that it was practically fact and you encountered it every day so…

"You know what," Blaster said as Hound and Nathanial appeared out of the smoke – hacking and coughing like they were about to just keel over any second – just in time to keep Aria from storming after the twins and redesigning them right then, "I'm just going to go get the new incident report from Prowl instead. Save him the trouble of sending it and all."

Optimus nodded, still too preoccupied with the scene in front of him to answer. A cycle later he heard the door close behind the other officer.

Left alone, he vented a deep sigh.

"It's a good thing Elita and the others are coming. This place could use some sanity." He mumbled to himself.

Then he realized that this would be the first time most of the younglings would be in the same place since they had received their adult frames. That and Chromia and Ironhide would be in the same city as well, and they had been apart just as long as he and Elita had been. Longer, since they had bonded before them.

"…frag." Optimus muttered to himself, glad for once that he was alone.

The city no longer seemed big enough.

...

From where he stood behind a convenient corner, Val watched the usual madness ensue as the twins slipped Hound's net and scrambled away for the relative safety the maze offered them. About fifty feet from where Val stood with Bumblebee and Bluestreak, Hound and Nathanial tried to clear their respective respiratory/venting systems of the smoke Sideswipe's cannon shot had caused when it had mowed down part of the surrounding maze wall.

"Jie Mei does not look happy." Bumblebee said softly, more than a healthy dose of anxiety in his voice. An unhappy Jie Mei did not a pleasant encounter make, especially when she was using words he had only heard Ironhide use before.

"Yeah, so I vote we get out of here before she sees us and decides to ask what we're doing here." Bluestreak said, sounding slightly panicky. He had been against this idea from the very start.

"Sh!" Val hushed him yet again, not that he needed to worry what with Aria being so loud. "No one's going anywhere so stand still and be quiet while I try to think of a plan." He ordered.

Bluestreak frowned at the other, _younger_, mech. "You know what? No! No I will not stand still and be quiet while you two try your darndest to do something _stupid._ But you know what? Fine, go ahead! Truss up Jie Mei's new mech friend for all I care! I hope she hog ties you both and hands your sorry selves over for Ratchet to deal with. Maybe _he_ can knock some sense into you even though it's looking pretty hopeless from where I'm standing!"

"Shhh!"

Now both mechs had hushed him.

Bluestreak scowled at their back as the other two peered around the corner to watch. "Fine." He hissed at them, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Fine, _be_ that way."

Val and Bumblebee went on ignoring him.

"Be what way?" A new voice suddenly intruded on the three young mechs.

They each spun around at the familiar voice. Even Val was startled out of his spying by the sight of a certain weapons specialist standing only a few feet behind them, strong arms crossed menacingly in front of his frame as he eyed the three mechs in front of him.

"Nothing," Bumblebee instantly said, trying not to look guilty, "I mean, no way. We're not doing anything."

Ironhide's frown deepened. He raised an optic ridge at them thrio.

"We're counting how many swear words Jie Mei knows." Val put in smoothly.

"Each word gets more points for how many times she told us never to say them when we were smaller." Bluestreak added, and then privately wondered why on Cybertron he had even said that. He was against this whole thing!

Ironhide rumbled in his chest. Val's face was too…neutral. And since when did Bluestreak only give one sentence as an explanation?

Ironhide eyed the three a moment more before speaking, his bass voice surprising the three younger mechs. "You three want to run that by me again? Except maybe more truthful like this time?"

A new noise appeared around the corner and all four mechs paused to sneak peeks around the wall they were hidden behind. Aria had disappeared, although her voice now came from the path Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had disappeared down. Nathanial was shaking his head as he followed after her and Hound had gotten his cane so he could hobble after the two of them.

Val's optics widened infinitesimally. If they didn't do something soon they would lose Hound and the two humans in the maze.

The three mechs exchanged uncertain looks. Since the other two obviously weren't about to tell a bald faced lie to the most intimidating mech in Iacon, Val stepped up to the plate. That and the old mech was ruining their stake out. They had to get rid of him and fast.

"Like 'Bee said, it's nothing." Val said with a shrug.

Ironhide's frown deepened as he turned his fierce optics on the gray-brown mech. "I don't believe you." He said, point blank.

Val rolled his optics, some of his impatience leaking through. "Alright _fine_, we're trying to replace Hound's walking stick with one of those giant candy cane. You know, those Christmas decoration things we made with Jie Mei?" He told the older mech quickly.

A touch of confusion entered Ironhide's optics. "Didn't Sunny and Sides just do that?" He asked them.

"They stole our idea." Val said.

Ironhide grunted. "I don't get it. The joke's not funny." He grumbled at them.

"That's because trigger happy mechs like you don't have anything even resembling a sense of humor." Val shot back without turning around.

Ironhide narrowed his optics dangerously at the younger mech's back. Bumblebee and Bluestreak shared a nervous look, but they didn't dare speak. There was no telling what little thing might set the old mech off now.

A long moment of deathly silence passed where the only sound to be heard was Aria's dwindling curses at the twins. And then, thankfully, Ironhide snorted mulishly and stormed back the way he came, muttering darkly about his so called lacking sense of humor.

"No sense of humor. No sense of humor! I'll show them a sense of humor! 'S'not my fault every half welded thing these kids think up isn't funny."

'Bee and Bluestreak released relieved gusts of air to cool their nervous, overheated systems as Ironhide's muttering dwindled and disappeared back the way he'd come.

"That was too close." Bluestreak muttered to Bumblebee. The yellow mech nodded silently.

"That's it!" Val suddenly hissed.

Bumblebee frowned at him, irritated that Val hadn't even sensed their immediate danger. "What's it? You finally notice that big empty hole in your head where your central processor should be?" He asked scathingly.

Val ignored his friend's sarcasm like everything else around him. "No," he said seriously, "I got the perfect plan to get that annoying organic male to leave our Jie Mei alone for good!"

Bluestreak slanted Bumblebee another worried glance.

"That so does not bode well." He mumbled. Bumblebee just nodded slowly. But against their own better judgment, and their conscience' pleas to listen to reason, they both listened as Val began to explain.

"Alright, so here's what we need..."

...

"Oh Siiiiideswiiiiiipe! Suuuunstreeeeaaaaker! Come out, come out wherever you areeeee!"

Nathanial shot Aria a worried glance. "You're going to frighten them away if you keep doing that." He told her calmly.

"Yeah, well they _should_ be frightened after what they just did." Aria said, the manic little gleam in her blue eyes doing nothing to set Nathanial's mind at ease. "Things'll go smoother for you if you just stay still!" She yelled out at the twins, wherever they were.

Nathanial looked at her again. "Let me rephrase that; you're frightening _me._"

Something resembling sense came back into Aria's eyes as she turned around to face him. Realizing what she was doing, she gave him a sheepish grin and rubbed at the back of her head. "Eh, he, he, sorry." She mumbled. "I just can't help it. I was this close to getting my datapad back!" She held up two fingers to illustrate just how close they had gotten. "_And_ getting them back for all those wisecracks about my sanity when I kept hearing that frickin' _noise_." Aria glowered darkly at the path in front of her, thinking dark and blender-ized thoughts concerning the twins.

_"If we find them and they've magically been turned into blenders, I won't complain Primus!" _She thought as she continued to lead the way through the maze, Nathanial and a quiet Hound trailing behind her. _"Or any other kind of kitchen appliance if it comes down to it. Toasters. Juicers. Waffle irons. Take your pick. Really. I won't mind."_

"What noise?" Nathanial asked behind her, breaking her out of her thoughts on unhappy silver and gold colored kitchenware.

Aria turned around and blinked at him. "Oh, right, that was before you got here. I kept hearing this noise randomly during the orn before we found you. It sorta sounded like a turtle in a blender played to the accompaniment of the yodeling veterinarian of the Alps."

Nathanial stopped and turned to look up at Hound. "Did that make any sense to you, or am I the only one left out of this loop?" He asked uncertainly.

The tracker shrugged before leaning heavily on his borrowed walking stick and taking another slow step forward. "Don't know. None of us could hear it. Hey, what is yodeling anyway?"

Nathanial tried to think of a sensible answer. "Um, nothing you ever want to hear."

Hound thought about this. Aria had said something pretty similar. He liked learning new things about Earth, but he couldn't help but think that it must have its own dangers if both the humans didn't want to ever run into this 'yodeling' thing.

"Poor turtle." Was all Nathanial thought safe to say to Aria.

Aria gave him an incredulous look. "Poor turtle? Poor me! At least the turtle was out of its misery." She reconsidered. "Unless that was turtle hell and it could still hear the noise it was making. But then, if it _was_ turtle hell, I'm going with the assumption that he did something to land him there in the first place, so I still don't feel sorry for him."

Nathanial opened his mouth to argue, but then thought better of it. He also couldn't find a fault in her reasoning. Well, except for the fact that she was talking about turtle hell in the first place.

He decided to change to subject. "So, do you know what you're going to do with them once we find them again? What's the plan?"

Aria stopped and furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "Uh…"

Hound chuckled. "Didn't you know Nat? This _is_ the plan."

Nathanial glanced over the fact that Aria's nickname for him seemed to be spreading to the bots now, and gave Hound a confused look of his own. "You mean wandering around in circles until we find a rope burned Sideswipe and a half painted Sunstreaker?"

"Yep," Hound said with a nod just as Aria cried, "Hey! We are not going in circles!"

Nathanial looked over at her and then pointed at a purple mark on he wall ahead of them.

Aria saw it and deflated. "Man…" she whined.

"So," Nathanial spoke again, "what do we do now?"

Hound looked over at Aria, waiting for her answer. She just looked back, obviously at a loss. Nathanial looked between the two of them and realized they were going to be stuck in this maze all day if someone didn't say something.

"Alright, alright," he said quickly, the beginnings of an idea coming into his head, "Hound, you can find them, right?"

Despite his still healing leg, Hound stood up proudly. "Can a turbo-fox find a glitch mouse's den through six feet of rubble?"

At a loss, Nathanial looked over at Aria. She shrugged and blinked at him with wide eyes to show she didn't know either.

"Eh…I'll take that as a yes." Nathanial said after a moment. "So, we can find them and if anything, our earlier victory tells us we can catch them. So the question is how do we get them to hold still long enough for us to grab Aria's letter and paint them into next vorn?" He looked between the other two. "Any ideas?"

Hound frowned at the air in front of him. "Not without incapacitating them altogether, and I'd prefer not to do that. Ratchet would get involved after that and I don't think that's what we want."

Nathanial shook his head as a shiver ran down his spine. "No, definitely not." He agreed, then turned towards their other conspirator. "Aria, you have any ideas?"

Aria's eyebrows scrunched together in thought. And then, somewhat to his surprise, a smile slowly began to unfurl on Aria's face.

Her eyes flickered between Nathanial and Hound. Nathanial saw with some unease that the manic gleam was back in her eyes.

"I think I got an idea." She told them. Hound grinned.

Nathanial felt another shiver roll down his spine. _"Uh-oh,"_ he thought as Aria ran ahead to follow the purple marks out of the maze, waving at them to follow her,_ "I think I just unleashed something even worse then the twins..."_

...

Aria waited until the three of them were safely back in the little storage room where Nathanial slept before explaining her plan to Hound and Nathanial. It was just as devious as the other human had thought it would be, but it wouldn't be nearly as destructive as anything the twins would do, so he quietly took back his thought about Aria being worse then the twin terrors. She was still just as bad on occasion, but at least with her running the show he wasn't afraid they were going to blow out a wall somewhere…or a building…

It had taken them the rest of the orbit to get things ready, so they hadn't had a chance to nab the twins until the next day.

Now, they were lying in wait.

"Hound secured the net?" Aria asked as Nathanial joined her in their hidey-hole.

Nathanial nodded. "Yes. Now, we wait."

Aria nodded back. "Yep, my favorite part." She said with more then a smidge of sarcasm.

That made Nathanial grin crookedly as he situated himself next to her in the crawl space. They were lying on their stomachs, looking down at the empty corridor below them through a ceiling panel they had shifted out of place earlier.

They were quiet for a few minutes, listening for the twins, but when they didn't hear anything other then the hum of electricity that powered the hall lights, Nathanial shot Aria an uncertain glance.

Aria didn't notice. She was too focused on the hall below her, eagerly waiting for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to walk by.

After a moment, Nathanial softly cleared his throat to get her attention. She glanced at him. "Something wrong?" She whispered.

He gave her a worried look. "Aria, are you sure about this? I mean," he fumbled for words, "you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "Why would I not want to? This was my idea after all."

"Yes, but-"

Voices appeared in the hall beneath them, making Nathanial fall silent as they both listened hard to see who was coming.

"-but why would Jazz want to talk with us?" Sunstreaker said in his usual irritable way.

"I dunno," his brother answered him, "but as long as it doesn't have to do with the maze thing yesterday, I don't really care."

In the crawl space, Aria silently stood up, hunched over to avoid the low ceiling, and maneuvered her way next to the opening between the panels.

"Aria," Nathanial hissed even more quietly then before, "Aria you really don't have to-"

"Shh!" Aria whispered, giving him a playful grin as she held a finger in front of her mouth for silence. "You'll scare them off."

Nathanial resisted the urge to groan and run a hand through his hair, again. "Aria, you could get hurt!" He pressed.

She held up her other hand. "I already did. Cut my finger getting the harness set up."

Nathanial was quickly running out of things to say. "But-" he tried anyway, "but ladies don't go around taking leaps out of ceilings that could _kill_ them if something goes _wrong_!" He hissed in a last ditch attempt to stop her. Already his heart was starting to beat faster. Below them, the twins got closer. They would be under them in a matter of seconds.

"Well I'm not just a lady," Aria told with a wink, "I'm a Texas lady, and for a Texas lady, this is a piece of cake."

Then without another sound, she jumped through the hole they had made in the ceiling, diving through it like a swimmer.

Nathanial craned his neck over the hole, ignoring the thick, black, rope as it whizzed after Aria just inches from his face. With a smile that stretched from ear to ear, Aria pounced on Sideswipe first, small hands reaching through spaces between his armor that most of his adversaries were too big to fit through.

Aria had no problem, and before he knew what was happening, she twisted a line in his neck and then let go as the springy cable snugly secured to her harness pulled her back up.

Sideswipe hit the floor faster then a Star Trek actor hit with the Vulcan neck pinch.

Sunstreaker barely had time to look up before the same thing happened to him.

Aria giggled as she let her rope bounce itself out, the twins splayed out on the floor beneath her. "Never knew what hit 'em." She said triumphantly as Hound stepped out from around the far corner, air brush in hand.

"Nice job Aria. Knew Prowl taught you those pressure points for a reason." He told her with a proud smile.

Aria gave him one of her own, although her pride was more in herself. "That felt good!" She told him as she dangled there. "It's been ages since I've done that."

Hound chuckled as he walked over to her, mindful not to step on the twins sprawled out on the floor. "I figured. It took you all afternoon and half the night to find that thing." He nodded at the rope she was dangling from as he held a hand out for her to climb onto.

In the crawl space, Nathanial eyed the grapple at the other end of the rope Aria had fastened around one of the pipes. He had looked at her like she was crazy when she had showed it to him, especially when she had added that Wheeljack had made it for her, but nothing he'd said had changed her mind.

"I've done this hundreds of times. And this is the twelfth edition," she held up the cylinder that housed the rope and grapple, "so Wheeljack's got all the kinks worked out by now."

Aria's voice in the present snapped him out of his shocked reverie. "Hey Nat! You can come down now!"

Shaking his head at her through the opening, Nathanial got to his feet and after taking a careful hold on the rope, slid down to join Aria on Hound's hand.

Once he was next to her, she pushed a button on the cylinder, and the grapple released its hold and zipped back into its silver casing.

"There," Aria told him with a broad smile, "that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Nathanial's large exhale told her he begged to differ.

"Come on you two," Hound said as he carefully lowered them to the floor, "let's hurry up before their repair systems fix the problem. We've got maybe thirty cycles if you were gentle Aria."

Aria glanced away self-consciously. "You might want to make that forty-five then." She told him.

Hound just chuckled as he readied the air-brush and the two humans broke out the brushes.

...

Forty cycles later saw the three of them well away from the crime scene and Aria happily reading Cloudraker's letter.

"Dum de dum," Aria hummed to herself as she went on to the next page. She was sitting on the rec room windowsill, Nathanial situated more comfortably on the table below her.

"So how's your other brother?" He asked her, breaking the contented silence of the room.

Aria sighed happily. "Good. Apparently when Fastlane told me that when he beat a 'con by a nosedive, he meant it literally. Like he actually nosedived _through_ the 'con." She shook her head in disbelief, but her smile wouldn't go away.

Nathanial just looked at her. "Fastlane?" He inquired.

Aria looked up from her datapad to grin at him cheerfully. "Other other brother." She told him, then laughed when she saw Nathanial's eyes widen slightly.

"Ah," he said.

"They're my Seeker boys," she told him, deciding that he would probably suffer enough whenever he met them anyway, "and Fastlane and Cloudraker are brothers, just like their guardians before them."

"Ah," Nathanial said again, not feeling very enlightened. "Wait, wouldn't that make them cousins?" He asked her.

"Nope," Aria said, eyes glued once again to her brother's letter.

Nathanial absorbed this information, or at least, he tried to.

They were both disrupted from their quiet relaxation by a sudden fierce and furious shriek.

Well alright, a pair of shrieks.

Nathanial, along with every other mech in the room looked up at the howls, although Nathanial immediately chided himself since he already knew what it was.

Aria, though, just grinned deviously down at her datapad.

"Dear Cloud," she said out loud as she started typing her reply letter to Cloudraker, "you'll never guess what we did today."

"YOU!"

Heads snapped up again – all except for Aria's of course – as a flaming furious Sunstreaker, followed by a hopping mad Sideswipe, stormed into the room.

And those descriptions were meant almost as literally as is possible without any actual hopping or setting things on fire.

"Why, if it isn't my two favorite wonder twins," Aria said smugly when she finally deigned to look up from her letter. "How goes it guys? Whoa." She stared in mock surprise. "What in the world happened to you?"

Snickers were heard in the background. No one had ever seen the twins so…colorful before. Instead of his usual gold color, half of Sunstreaker's frame was bright purple. The other half was bright green, although they had switched the colors on his head so that green sat over purple and purple sat over green. On top of that, bright orange-gold flames had been painted on his legs, like he was standing in an open fire.

"You look like Mardi Gras gone wrong Sunny. And Sides," Aria said turning her attention to the mech that had been decorated like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland – blue waistcoat, pocket watch, overly large front teeth, and nice, long, fluffy ears included, "what's with the getup? Easter's not until next vorn. They took a vote remember?"

The twins seethed.

"You did this." Sideswipe accused sharply, pointing a finger at Aria.

Aria batted large, child-like eyes at him. "Me?"

Sideswipe glared at her. "Are there any other organic gremlins running around this place?" He asked her flatly.

"But I'm not a gremlin," Aria said too innocently, "I'm a brownie. I help you guys, remember?"

Sunstreaker scoffed. "Help drive us out of our processors." He grumbled.

Aria allowed herself a grin, although it was just as fakely sweet as her Bambi eyes. "Well you didn't specify _how _I should help you out." She told him.

"Why you-!" Sunstreaker started, taking a threatening step forward.

He was stopped by an overly familiar and, to the twins, highly unwelcome voice.

"And just what do you think you're doing Sunstree-ee-ee-"

The name started skipping in Prowl's mouth as soon as he laid optics on the festive green and purple mech. Aria could see his processor wanted to glitch right then and there, but he was just too darned _amused_.

As she watched, the strangest thing she had _ever _seen happened. The widest, most open, downright _happiest_ smile Aria had ever seen slowly started to grow on Prowl's face.

"Ha."

Aria blinked in utmost surprise. "Did Prowl just…laugh?" She looked at Nathanial.

The man just very slowly nodded his head.

"Ha ha." Prowl laughed again. Somehow they were even more surprised then the first time. "Hahaha! Ahahahahahaha_ha!_"

Everyone watched, completely slack jawed, as _Prowl_ stood there, _laughing his backside off._

"Whoa." Aria said, completely serious as everybody in the room watched the Autobot second double over, unable to tear eyes or optics away from the absolutely miraculous sight in front of them.

Prowl, _the_ Prowl – the infamous stoic, rule clinging, uptight to the extreme _Prowl_ – was pointing at the twins, caught in the middle of a full blown _fit_ of laughter.

And of course, now he couldn't stop.

"Dude," Jazz mumbled as he watched Prowl lean over double, "I know I've told you to loosen up, but if ya keep this up yer going to fall apart at the joints."

Prowl had his hands propped up on his knees so he didn't just fall over. "I-I-I-I-" he sounded like a skipping record, "I-I-I-"

Jazz sharply whacked his friend on the back.

"Can'tstop!" He spit the two words as one before he could start skipping again.

Jazz shot a look over at Aria as they came to the same realization. Jazz just gave a hopeless, one shouldered shrug and put a hand to his visor in resignation.

"Oh boy." Aria said. It was the only thing she could think of. "Don't have to wonder how his logic circuits will take to this."

She was right. Not a cycle later, Prowl pitched over and landed with a crash on the floor. His miraculous laughter had been cut off just as suddenly.

There was a long moment of silence in the room as everyone present tried to come to terms with the very new idea that Prowl could even chuckle, much less laugh for cycles like that. Then almost as one, they all leaned over to see what the tactician was doing now.

Side by side, Aria and Nathanial leaned over the counter edge. Below them, Aria could just see the sporadic flicker of blue light as Prowl's optics flashed erratically, yet another sign of his processor crash. The wide smile still on his face though, was new.

"Huh," the still rabbit-fied Sideswipe broke the silence a moment later, "who knew the ol' stickler had it in him?" He asked raising both hands, palms up, in a questioning gesture.

"Not me." Aria replied as she straightened up.

Jazz just shook his head. "Not again. Ratchet's gone flip over this." He muttered before venting a sigh and pointing at two mechs standing near by. "Alright you two, let's get him to sick bay."

The two nodded before helping Jazz with the crashed SIC.

"What in the name of Nexus just happened?" Nathanial asked, finding his voice.

Aria looked up at the question. "Oh, right, you've never seen Prowl crash before have you?" She asked.

Nathanial raised an eyebrow at her, only increasing the slightly freaked out look he had on his face. "No. Is this something else I should get used to then? Please say no."

Aria made a face. "Well…"

"Scrap." Nathanial instantly replied.

Aria blinked at him. Then her own lopsided grin pulled at her mouth.

If anything this freaked Nathanial out even more. "What? What'd I say?" He asked her quickly.

"Nothing," Aria said with a laugh, "it's just that's the first time I've heard you swear."

A horrified look immediate rose on the man's face as he realized he had done the worst thing possible in Atlantian polite society; he had offended a lady. The single little act was unforgivable, even if it _was_ in another language.

"Oh Lord-Aria, I'm so sorry. I-"

His babbling was cut off by Aria gently placing her hand on his arm.

"Nathanial, chill, alright?" She told him, smiling softly to try and put him at ease, "it's just a word. I'm not going to just fall apart because of one little slip of the tongue." She told him in a perfectly reasonable tone of voice. "Now just, breathe, alright?" She clapped him twice on the arm as if to drive her point home.

Nathanial blinked quickly and took her advice. He shot her an anxious glance out of the corner of his eyes. He hadn't even noticed he was holding his breath.

"Right." He told her, although his voice still betrayed some of his embarrassment. "I'm-I'm sorry."

Aria's mouth quirked up a little, apparently amused by his innate need to apologize for such little things. Fortunately he was saved from more babbling apologies when Aria went back to her datapad on the windowsill. Although not before she smiled at him one more time.

Nathanial let go of the breath he had been holding when she was gone. "Well that was nothing less then mortifying," he muttered to himself, thinking about his inane babbling just as much as his curse. "If I had done that back home-" he started scathingly, but was abruptly stopped by the unexpected insight that he wasn't _at _home anymore. He was here. Where no one cared about where his family was from or what his parents had done back before he had even been born. Heck, they hardly even cared about him period.

_"Well,"_ he inwardly corrected himself. _"Not all of them. Some of the mechs have been quite understanding."_

But when he turned to look over at the woman sitting behind him, it wasn't the mechs he was thinking of.

He didn't understand her. He hardly even understood what she said half the time, however he was finding more and more that he didn't really care. She was unlike any other lady he had ever met, and he liked that. She didn't hide how she felt, about anything. When she was angry she yelled, when she was happy she smiled, and when she smiled-

Nathanial's mind temporarily froze as Aria looked up at him by chance. She smiled and nodded, then went back to her letter, obviously thinking he was just staring off into space instead of at her.

Well, let's just say that when she smiled, lots of things happened.

Nathanial abruptly turned away from Aria and frowned at himself. _"I'm not there anymore, and I need to stop acting like I am."_ He told himself sternly.

He remembered Aria's insane plan and the way she had just leapt out of the ceiling like some born acrobat and he couldn't help but give a little smile of his own. "Nope," he murmured to himself as he turned to look at Aria over his shoulder. She was sitting in the windowsill again, completely unaware of him as she finished reading her brother's letter. "I'm certainly not there anymore."

Sleeping was horrible. Her brothers hated him. And Aria was hot headed and impulsive, thinking with her heart more then her head, but overall…

Overall he couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit impressed.


	18. Chapter 18: Coming Home

Alright, here we go, some familiar faces coming your way! :D I think the last part of the chapter is my favorite (although I love this whole chapter in general and am _immensely _pleased with it ::heart!::) but sadly it was the part that I didn't get a chance to proofread yet...*mumbles, looks away, mumbles some more* But I figured you would want this chapter before nightfall so here ya go! I'll just look it over later and make any changes if necessary.

Now for some love! Your reviews were amazing as always and I actually answered most of them this time! Now I just gotta get to the other precious few that also deserve replies...

Umm...what else? (because there always seems to be something else) Oh! Milestones! Not only have I received over one _hundred_ and fifty reviews (156 to be exact! *squee!*) but this story has also gotten over 7,000 views! XD So amazing! You guys _ROCK! _Consider the warm fuzzies and goofiness that follows as your reward! XD

...

The Long Road Home

18 – Coming Home – 18

Fortunately for the well being – not to mention the sanity – of the whole city, things calmed down shortly after what soon became known as the A-Maze-zing Incident. It was a horrible pun that made the humans cringe every time they heard it, although Aria tended to laugh as she did.

Much to no one's surprise, Peg thought of it.

Satisfied with the way things had ended up, Aria and Hound settled back into their usual routines, although everyone noticed that they were a lot happier then they had been before. As for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, well, let's just say that most of their zeal for cheering people up was now dead. Stupendously, undoubtedly, and entirely without warning - dead.

At the moment though, no one was really thinking on the twins' sulking or Prowl's practically cheery demeanor. Now their minds were on something else.

The main entrance hall of the Hall of Records was packed with mechs. Practically everyone that was off duty was there, even the ones that had just gotten off the night shift were in the large room. No matter how exhausted they were, they were too excited to recharge as they milled about the room, jostling for a spot with a decent view of the main door. For the moment it was still closed.

Aria was no exception. She was standing at the far end of the hall opposite the door with Bumblebee, Bluestreak, Val, and Nathanial. Nearby stood the top officers, waiting along with everybody else for the guests of honor to finally arrive.

There was an air of excitement buzzing around the hall. The femmes would be here any minute and Aria was getting to that point where she just couldn't stand waiting any longer. At first she had been standing on the floor with Nathanial, but as the crowd got thicker and the forest of legs in front of her cut off her view, Bumblebee had let her sit up on his shoulder. But after she had almost fallen off from excited happy dancing, she had ended up back down on the floor.

Not that the others were any better. Bumblebee was downright giddy with excitement, Bluestreak hadn't stopped talking of course, while Wheeljack on the other hand had been so quiet and intent on the door that when Ratchet had asked him a question he had jumped nearly five feet in the air. Even Val was starting to fidget as he watched the door with the kind of focus he was known for avoiding.

"Are they almost here?" Bumblebee asked for the millionth time.

"I hope so." Aria whispered. She had left off nail biting a few cycles ago when she had run out of spare nails and had since commenced the hand wringing stage of her waiting process.

Nathanial took in each excited face around him with a smile. "So how long has it been since you've seen them?"

"Ages." Aria told him distractedly.

"Forever." Val added almost at the same time.

"Well technically it's been vorns, but it's felt like ten, no, twenty times longer then it really has, so you can see why Aria and Val are exaggerating. That and why everybody else is so excited, seeing as there aren't that many femmes left and they've kept apart under Elita-One so that Megatron doesn't go about trying to finish the job and-"

Nathanial held up his hands to stem Bluestreak's verbal flow. "Alright Bluestreak, alright. I, uh, get the point. It's been awhile."

Bluestreak gave the human a nervous, excited grin and nodded slightly. "Yeah." He said, needing to say at least one more thing. But then he must have thought of something else, because he opened his mouth, but he was cut off by the long awaited sound of the door opening.

The crowd fell silent instantly. Aria held her breath as the large doors slowly grated open. She knew they were functioning just as well as yesterday, but right then they seemed to take forever to open just a crack, forget about all the way.

Five slender figures stepped into the silence of the room. Eagerly Aria let her eyes flick over them, trying to take in every detail of the friends she hadn't seen in ages.

"The femme up front," Aria whispered to Nathanial next to her, hardly aware she was even speaking now, "the rosy colored one? That's Elita-One. And the blue and silver one behind her right shoulder? That's Chromia, her sister along with her second. The one with sea-green armor is Moonracer and the red and orange one is Firestar so that just leaves…"

She trailed off, only half aware that Nathanial was waiting for her to finish her sentence. She was too focused on the last femme, the one standing behind Elita's other shoulder. She wasn't as tall as her two older sisters, coming to just a few inches below Elita's height, and her armor was various shades of pink. Shrewd blue optics looked around in the kind of curiosity Aria remembered from when she had been a tiny sparkling, as if she was re-memorizing every line, every familiar face around her.

"She grew up more beautiful then I ever dreamed." Aria murmured.

Next to her, Nathanial was caught between watching the femmes and watching Aria. "What?" He asked her, thinking she was talking to him again.

Before she could answer, the awed silence of the hall was broken by one of the femme's suddenly shouting.

"Ironhide, you tough old slagger get over here!"

He didn't have time though before he was suddenly hit with a laughing blue and silver streak. The two crashed to the floor, those around them getting out of the way as they shot their neighbors knowing smirks. They had expected something like this. There was even a betting pool around it.

Nathanial turned to see which femme had had the audacity to tackle Ironhide and what the gruff mech was going to do about it, then quickly looked away, facing burning neon red as he realized that this was the kind of game only meant for two players and he most certainly was not one of them.

Aria was completely oblivious to her friend's embarrassment as she rushed forward, grinning like a loon.

"Arcee!" She shrieked excitedly.

The last femme looked around at the sound of her name, but it took her a moment to remember to look down. Her optics lit up when she saw the little figure running towards her.

"Jie Mei!" She cried when she saw Aria. Then faster then anyone had expected from the youngest femme, Arcee knelt down, swooped up her only other sister, and hugged her.

Aria wrapped her arms around the femme's neck, able to reach since she was so much smaller then Bumblebee and the other younger bots. When they drew back, Aria wiped away the droplets sitting in her eyes and smiled at the femme.

"I can't believe it's really you Meimei. You look all grown up."

Arcee shrugged in embarrassment, optics locked on the floor instead of Aria. "Yeah, well, that's what happens when I don't get to see you in forever. How are you Jie Mei? And everybody else? Elita told me that some of the boys are here too."

Aria nodded and pointed over at the three flabbergasted boys still standing on the other side of the room. "Yeah, we're all fine. Still in one piece." She told her with a half hearted chuckle.

Arcee just smiled at her, although Aria could see the same relief in her optics that she felt. They weren't dead. They were all still here.

Aria let go of her fear and leaned her forehead against Arcee's cheek. "Safe and sound." Aria whispered to her Meimei. "Just like always."

Arcee gave her own soft laugh. "Punny Jie Mei." She told her.

Across from the two girls, Prowl was rolling his optics at Ironhide and Chromia still down near his feet. In all honesty, he was trying not to stare.

"By the AllSpark, would you two cut it out?" He hissed at them, not wanting to draw anymore attention to them then they had already attracted. Not that they noticed.

Chromia left off, eh, saying 'hello' to her mech and leaned her head on his shoulder to look up at Prowl with one bright blue optic. "What's got your processor in a knot Prowl? Aren't you old enough to already know where sparklings come from?"

The answering look on Prowl's face was priceless. His usual stoic look froze on his face, but it was still hard for Chromia and Ironhide not to miss the slight twitch of his left optic.

They both started laughing at him, of course, even if they did do it quietly for once.

Prowl narrowed his optics at them and then pointed out the door behind them that led deeper into the building. "Just get out of here before I write you up for public indecency." He told them in a scary soft voice, not that they were intimidated any.

But Chromia didn't need any other urging either. A gleam entered her optics as she turned back to her sparkmate. People tried not to stare as she leaned down and murmured something to him. Then with a soft laugh, she got up and calmly walked out the door, only pausing to look at Ironhide over her shoulder as the door opened.

A few optic ridges went up at that. More rose when Ironhide stopped his open mouthed staring after her and got to his feet. He went after her with a chuckle of his own.

The surrounding crowd took a cycle to try and erase that from their processors.

"Did she just say…" Bluestreak said slowly, "'catch me if you can'?"

Bumblebee gagged. "I don't want to know. I so completely don't want to know."

"Whoa," Val murmured.

Bumblebee and Bluestreak shared a confused look. "'Whoa'? What does 'whoa' mean? We better not be talking about the same thing here or I'm gonna smack you so hard that even Jie Mei won't look at y-"

Bumblebee didn't get a chance to finish his threat. He had just caught sight of what Val was staring at.

"Whoa." He said for himself.

Other then that the three boys were silent as the youngest femme walked in their direction. A subtle sway to her walk that she wasn't even consciously aware of making their jaws drop.

"Hey guys," Arcee said when she finally joined them, "miss me?"

Standing next to her, Aria just laughed at the stupefied looks on the three mechs faces. Nathanial noticed it too as he walked over to join the group, and he shook his head at them with a small smirk.

"Why am I not surprised?" He murmured to Aria. She answered him with a wink and smile.

Bumblebee finally managed to shake himself out of his stupor enough to try and be polite. "Arcee," he stuttered, "you, ah, you look-"

"You look like a femme!" Val beat Bumblebee to the punch.

Arcee frowned at him, suddenly looking more like hot tempered Chromia rather than level headed Elita. "That's because I _am_ a femme you idjit." She sniped.

The boys jerked back slightly, taken aback by her cheek. Behind them, Jazz just chuckled before carefully elbowing between Bluestreak and Val so he could clap the youngest femme on the shoulder. "It's nice to see ya haven't changed Arcee." He told her with a crooked grin.

Val, Bumblebee, and Bluestreak turned and stared at the mech. Hadn't changed? They could hardly recognize her!

Arcee returned Jazz's grin. "Nice to see you haven't either." She looked him up and down. "Although you aren't as tall as I remember."

Jazz laughed at her. "I think most things aren't going to be as big as you remember kid. You were only half as big as Aria there last time you and yer sisters were here. Just think, you can reach the light switch all on yer own now!"

Arcee rolled her optics at him and put a hand on her hip.

From off to the side, the two commanders watched the younger bots as the started to get reacquainted with each other. Around them, the excitement laden atmosphere had loosened and the mechs that hadn't left after making sure the femmes had arrived safely (and collected their bets on whether Ironhide or Chromia made the first move) were talking with Firestar and Moonracer, catching up and telling them about all the things they'd missed out on since they'd last been in Iacon.

For a moment, Elita watched the happy mechs and femmes around them, a deep sense of gladness taking hold in her spark. She had never meant to isolate her femmes from the other Autobots so severely, but it had been necessary to protect Arcee – one of the last younglings and the only femme as well. She had told that to her femmes going into this assignment vorns ago, but they had followed her anyway. Right now though, she was still glad they could have this welcomed respite.

Satisfied that her femmes could settle in by themselves from here, Elita finally let herself turn to what she wanted.

She and the mech standing in front of her both turned at the same time and froze in surprise when their optics locked across the short space between them. Elita nearly stumbled backwards as she was swamped by a tidal wave of emotion, a good part of it her own, but not all of it. Joy, relief, longing, love. They were all there, and they were all making her slightly dizzy.

Her balance wobbled just the slightest bit and she had to take a quick step to the right to avoid falling over completely. She had barely moved before large, steady hands appeared, steadying her.

"Are you alright Elita?" Optimus asked her, keeping his voice low, just between the two of them.

A small smile appeared in the corner of her mouth as she looked back up at her sparkmate. "I'm fine," she said, matching his tone, "I just forgot what kind of effect you had on me." She told him with a low laugh.

His worried look stayed in place for a klik, but then his features relaxed into a smile of his own. Adjusting his hold on her, he pulled her close to kiss her. "The feeling is mutual." He told her when they had pulled apart.

Elita gave a little laugh as she leaned against him. She shuttered her optics and stood there silently for a moment, reveling in the feeling of his love and relief that she was alright where it mingled with hers. She had forgot how wonderful it was to feel the bond between them like this. With so much physical distance between them more often then not, she was lucky if she got so much as a whisper from her mate. And now to be surrounded by him – it was a little overwhelming.

"I am overjoyed to see you safe," he told her after a moment, "I've missed you all this time."

Elita smiled, even though he couldn't see. She pulled back so she could look at him again. "I missed you too." She murmured back. Then she smiled wider and then pulled him down until their faces were a scant space apart. "And let me show you how glad I am to see you."

Across the room Nathanial looked away from the couple, caught off guard by the fact that they were, eh, he supposed he could call it kissing, at all. He hadn't exactly thought Optimus to be the marrying type, so to speak.

_"Although I'm not sure why," _he admitted to himself, _"I suppose it's no more surprising then the fact that Ironhide of all mechs has a sparkmate."_

As he thought, Nathanial looked around the room in embarrassment, searching for something, anything really, to pay attention to so he could at least pretend he hadn't seen the two standing off in their own little world in the corner.

A giggle over his head told him that he hadn't been the only one to notice Optimus and Elita-One.

"I'm glad we got to come without an emergency medical situation this time. You wouldn't believe the kind of damper that puts on reunions like this." Moonracer said as she joined the younger bots.

"Yeah," Arcee added, "you wouldn't believe how much she missed him either."

Val turned to see what the two femmes were talking about and instantly gagged. "Primus! Do they have to do that in public?" He asked, sounding slightly horrified. Nathanial rolled his eyes at him. Obviously the mech had missed Ironhide and Chromia's little display earlier.

Arcee scowled at Val before smacking him sharply in the mid-section. "Don't be such a mechling!" She told him.

Val looked at her with wide optics. "What? What'd I say?"

In between them, Bumblebee just hung his head and vented a sigh.

"Anyway," Moonracer said pointedly, heading for a subject change, "you thought Elita was bad, Chromia was worse! That first orn out of Iacon she was impossible to deal with! It was like every little thing just set her off-"

Not liking the way the conversation was going, Nathanial chose the wisest course of action and removed himself entirely from the 'girl-talk' he felt coming before they could try and drag him into it.

Oddly enough he found the perfect diversion standing nearby. Surprised, he walked over to the mech standing silently by the near wall, watching the younglings as they argued somewhat playfully amongst themselves.

"Mirage," Nathanial said by way of greeting, "when did you get here?"

Mirage shifted where he leaned against the wall and turned his attention to the human as he joined him. "The femmes weren't the only ones to make it back. They just stole all the attention."

Nathanial laughed slightly. "That's pretty funny coming from the invisible mech." He pointed out.

Mirage huffed, but he obviously wasn't put out of sorts by Nathanial's friendly prodding. Neither said anything as they took a moment to watch the group of young mechs and femmes just in time to see their argument dissolved by a fit of laughter form Aria.

"Jazz was so right." She said when they looked down at her questioningly, "you haven't changed a bit since you were sparklings!" She said with another burst of laughter.

Arcee and Val looked at each other. "Well how do you like that?" Arcee said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Val put his hands on his hips as he stared down at Aria. "Well if you like Jie Mei we could always move back into the nursery."

"Yeah, and _you _get to watch us all over again." Arcee added.

"Just like old times."

Aria stopped laughing. "What? In your dreams! Now it's your fault when you get in trouble for coloring the walls, cuz I'm certainly not taking _that _rap for you again."

Val gave a mock sniff of hurt. "Jie Mei doesn't love us anymore Arcee."

Arcee clasped her hands melodramatically in front of her. "Oh woe is us!"

Aria gave them a flat look. "You're not funny." She told them. But of course, that just made everybody else laugh.

Mirage gave a chuckle of his own. No one would catch him admitting it, but the younglings were rather entertaining, especially when they were nettling their Jie Mei. Most of the time it was quite amusing to watch them, from a reasonable distance anyway.

Mirage glanced down at the human next to him, planning to ask what Alpha Trion was likely to say if he went and asked about Nathanial and Peg's (namely Peg's) behavior this very moment, but he stopped when he saw that the man was staring at Aria with some daffy expression on his face.

"What are you doing?" Mirage asked the human.

Nathanial startled slightly, expression abruptly vanishing. "What?" He said too quickly, but then regained his composure. "What are you talking about? I'm standing here next to you."

Mirage narrowed his optics at the suddenly defensive human. "Of course," he said slowly.

"So, ah," Nathanial said a moment later, apparently no longer satisfied with the comfortable silence between them, "did any of the 'cons give you trouble out there?"

Mirage's optics flicked over to look at him again, but then just as quickly went back to watching Aria giving her brood a guilt trip for poking fun at her. Val in particular was apologizing like there was no tomorrow. Aria looked like she was having far too much with him in Mirage's opinion.

"Not really." He finally answered the human. "For the most part they didn't even know I was there."

Nathanial smirked as he watched Arcee start to laugh at 'big, bad, Wrecker Val' begging forgiveness from their tiny sister. "I see." He said.

Mirage huffed a laugh. "They didn't."

Nathanial gave a chuckle of his own, but didn't all out laugh. _"Good," _Mirage thought, _"it's annoying when they go on laughing forever."_

"So your trip was uneventful then?" Nathanial asked him a moment later.

Mirage felt his faceplates darken. Fortunately, he thought, Nathanial was still watching the antic's of the younglings and didn't see. He tried to get his features under control before he answered, "Not exactly." But he must not have done as well at sounding neutral as he'd hoped because Nathanial turned to look at him with a questioningly glance.

"It was nothing," Mirage said quickly, "I just saw something I rather would have missed coming out of Shockwave's _lair_." He growled the Decepticon's name.

He didn't look at Nathanial directly, but he caught his expression in his peripheral vision. Mirage caught the question the man obviously wanted to ask stamped on his brow. He tensed, suddenly wishing he hadn't said anything about it at all.

But Nathanial turned his attention back to the others instead. "Sounds awful." Was all he chose to say.

Gratefully, Mirage let the subject drop. The silence wasn't as comfortable when it fell between them again, but Mirage was still thankful for it. He didn't like answering questions anyway.

His tension ebbed away a moment later and he glanced down at the human again. He blinked in surprise when he saw that Nathanial was once again staring at Aria. Something must have changed while he was away, he thought, because there was something different about the man when he looked at Aria now. Something that hadn't been there before he'd left. The man's organic optics seemed to…soften somehow when he looked at her now.

After a moment of looking between the two humans, realization clicked into place. Although Nathanial didn't notice the thoughtful look on the mech's face since his attention was…elsewhere.

Mirage carefully nudged Nathanial with a finger, getting his attention.

"She likes to dance." He told him simply before walking away.

He didn't need to turn around to know the man had a surprised look on his face. When Mirage was sure no one could see, he grinned from auditor to auditor as he imagined what Val or Bumblebee would say to him if they ever found out he was encouraging the organic mech's attentions to their older sister.

_"My work here is done." _He thought proudly to himself as he went off to give Jazz his report. _"I'm sure the rest he can figure out on his own."_

...

"Ah come one Jie Mei, how many times do you want me to say I'm sorry? Cuz' I'll say it again if you like. You know I love you Jie Mei."

Aria bit back a smile where Val couldn't see. He had never gotten the hang of play acting. He was just too real world oriented.

"Oh come on Aria. Put him out of his misery already." Moonracer told her with a smile of her own. Unlike the younglings, Aria was facing her, so she knew that the human was only messing with Val.

Aria threw the femme a wink and then whirled around to plaster herself against Val's cheek in her version of a hug. "Oh alright, I forgive you," she told him. But then she stepped back and pointed stern finger at him. "Just don't do it again."

Her threat slid off of Val like oil off of a cyber-duck's back. He already had her forgiveness, so the rest really didn't matter, unless he upset her again. "Right Jie Mei, of course," he told her grinning. Then before she could protest, he leaned down and landed a playful kiss on the top of her head, making her laugh in surprise as the slight electric current that usually came with their shows of affection sped under her skin.

"Hey!" Aria said through her laughter. "Cut it out Val! That tickles!"

Arcee hardly noticed what Aria was saying as movement on the other side of the room caught her attention. She blinked in surprise when she saw that Mirage was talking with another organic about her sister's height, although there _were_ some key, fundamental differences between him and her sister.

"Whoa," she murmured as she took the details in, "Jie Mei, who's the organic mech?"

Aria looked up at her, then turned to see who she was looking at. "His name's Nathanial. 'Bee and I found him awhile back. He's staying here until he and Wheeljack can get this ground bridge think working." She told her with a slight shrug as if it wasn't all that big a deal to her either way about it.

Aria's 'who-cares?' shrug told Arcee just as much as the animated way she had said the man's name. "Ah, I see," the femme said slowly as she looked first at Aria, and then over at Nathanial again. "You've got good taste Jie Mei."

Aria looked up at Arcee with wide eyes. "Excuse me?" She asked.

Arcee shrugged, overlooking Aria's deer in the headlights look. "I'm just saying, he's kind of cute-"

"Eh?" Bumblebee, Val, and even Bluestreak all said in complete and utter shock.

Arcee shot them a stern look before finishing. "-for a human."

Aria went back to feigning disinterest. "Oh really? I hadn't noticed." She told Arcee coolly.

Arcee raised an optic ridge at her smallest sister. "Uh-huh, right." Her voice just dripped sarcasm, showing just how much she believed _that_.

Moonracer looked over to inspect the other human herself. "Yeah, alright, I can see it. Not my type, but for Aria…" she trailed off meaningfully. She and Arcee shared a very knowing look.

"What?" Val all but shouted. "Wh-this-Agh!" He yelled, holding his helm in frustration. "What are you talking about? This is the worst idea I've heard since Jie Mei showed us all those pictures of what mechs of her species look like!"

Aria frowned up at him. They were just never going to let that go were they? _"Might as well add it to the list."_ She thought before defending herself.

"Oh would you forget that already? It was just a bunch of pictures. It wasn't that bad." She told him.

Bluestreak looked at his sister and for once decided not to say anything. Bumblebee just shuddered as Val spoke for all of them. "Wasn't that bad? It was creepy! Hardly any of them even had shirts on." He pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Moonracer said as she remembered what they were talking about. "This was after that first holoform fiasco with Bumblebee wasn't it?"

Aria nodded defensively. "Yes. Yes it was. See Val? Moonracer remembers that first holoform too. And I certainly wasn't going to let that lie."

"It was just a mistake Jie Mei," Bumblebee said for the billionth time since he'd shown Aria his first ever holoform vorns ago. "How was I supposed to know what an organic mech looked like? You were the only organic I'd ever seen. It's not my fault you're a girl!"

Aria looked up at her _di di_. "I'm not blaming you Bumblebee. I'm just saying that there weren't any real organic mechs around so I had to think of another way to show you and, well, I had all those pictures just lying around on my Ipod and all…"

"You sure had a lot a pictures of shirtless guys Aria. What did you call it again?" Moonracer asked Aria curiously. "You're 'Hot File'?"

Aria nodded dreamily, her eyes unfocusing as she remembered some of those pictures. She heaved a feminine sigh, "Yeah."

"Gak!" Val gagged, old enough to know why his Jie Mei liked those pictures now. "Subject change! Subject change!" He very nearly shrieked in panic.

Arcee rolled her optics at him. "I don't know why it freaks you out so much. I didn't think it was that bad. In fact, I rather liked it."

Aria grinned somewhat anxiously as Val and Bumblebee gagged again while Bluestreak stood there very still, his face a mirror image to Prowl's whenever his processor was about to crash. One of the unexpected side affects of Aria's lessons in all around manliness was Arcee's crush on Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson, but Aria hardly thought of that as a _flaw_ exactly, even if she was more into the geekier guys like Jay Baruchel and David Tennant.

_"Sigh, David Tennant." _Aria thought, her mind immediately distracted by energetic Doctors and blue police boxes.

"Well all _I'm _saying," Arcee's loud words snapped Aria back to the present, "is that now you need your own lesson with mechs Jie Mei." The femme told her, her playful grin nearly making Aria's heart stop right there in sheer embarrassment.

"What, ah, what d'you mean?" She asked carefully.

Tired of Aria's determination to play dumb, Arcee leaned down closer to her sister's height. "It means," she said slowly as she turned to face Nathanial like Aria was, "that you should snatch him up before I decide to find out if interspecies relationships really work."

Then with a laugh at the look on Aria's face, Arcee gave her Jie Mei a friendly shove towards the organic mech now standing alone by the near wall. The two femmes stifled their laughter as Aria literally ran into Nathanial with the force of Arcee's 'gentle' shove. The man spun around, but then smiled and relaxed when he saw who it was.

Val, however, reacted less than positively.

"Don't encourage her." He grumbled at Arcee with a glower. "She doesn't need him. And I was doing just fine keeping her _away _from that weirdo thank you so much."

Arcee rolled her optics at the mech, already falling back into the old habit. "Oh would you relax? You don't need to protect her from him. Heck, she could probably use the human company," she threw them a devious grin, "if you know what I mean."

Val was too horrified to even speak now.

"Arcee!" Bumblebee whined, just as grossed out as Val now.

Arcee just laughed at them.

"What?" She asked, lowering her voice as she took a measured step closer to Bee and Val. "Are you saying femmes don't need company sometimes too?"

Val came far enough out of his stupor to blink at Arcee. "Uh…" was the only thing Bumblebee's stunned processor could think of to say.

Arcee laughed at them again, then dropped the act as Bluestreak started asking her about how she was, how things had gone at the femme's base, had she heard about this new dark energon stuff, creepy right?, and then he had heard that Fastlane had _actually_ flown through a 'con…

Moonracer looked over at the two dazed mechs standing in front of her as Bluestreak babbled on good naturedly to Arcee. They didn't even notice her staring. They were obviously still trying to figure out just _what _Arcee had meant and just _who _exactly she had been talking to when she said it…

Moonracer shook her head and laughed. _"She's still got them wrapped around her digits."_ She thought with a grin before following Arcee and Bluestreak out the door.

"Now," she murmured with a decisive clap of her hands, "where'd my favorite engineer and fake uncle get to?"

It was a rhetorical question she knew as she automatically headed for the med bay, leaving the two remaining mechs in the hall, along with the two humans, alone to their own devices.


	19. Chapter 19: Mechanical Matchmakers

Alright, so, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Good news? Smart choice.

The good news is that this is _the_ biggest, most monster sized chapter I have _ever _written **and** it is filled chock full with gooey, sweet-like goodness mixed in with a few all around nuts. Truly, I think you'll love it. ;)

Now the _bad_ news is that I am not posting for another month. Now don't freak out on me! There are 2 very good reasons for this. 1! This is all I've got. I just finished this chapter off last night. That's right, you people have finally caught up with me. I literally have nothing else of the story written out to give you. Well, unless you want ten pages and disconjointed notes that won't make any sense whatsoever.

Very Good Reason No. 2! I'm leaving the country tomorrow. That's right. The cops have finally caught up with me and I just noticed that one of them has the words 'To Punish and Enslave' printed on the side. Hmm...

n_n; Just kidding. I'm leaving for my month long study abroad tomorrow and quite honestly, I am _freaking out._ I've got a whole bunch of stuff to get together, not to mention pack, so this whole running-out-of-chapters thing came at just the perfect moment, if that's even possible.

Right so...I better get back to running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Enjoy your super duper long with no meanie cliffhangers chapter! Mrs. Mittens, Puggle Bluestreak, and I will miss you all (because I'm certainly not going to a foreign country for the first time by myself without them...) and I will see you in four weeks!

Oh. And I'm starting a new, randomly updated, story made up of one shots and youngling lullabies. You should go totally check it out! Right, love y'all! Later! Tchus! Auf wiedersehen!

Many thanks and much love goes to my viewers and wonderful reviewers - Vivian Hale, Autobot-Bre, Mercedes Wolfcry, annebellelennox, and Suzumehime. You guys are totally amazing and I **_loved_** reading your reviews! Thank yooouuu!

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><p>To Autobot-Bre - Honestly? That's just the way Val is. Stubborn, bull headed, over protective...but he does it all out of love. But no, not that kind of love. You're right, they are older sisteryounger brother and all, but their relationship is a little different then the others because after Treads died, Aria stepped in for Val in a big way. It's made them more like Lilo and Nani in Lilo & Stitch kind of siblings then just your average brother and sister. Although come to think of it, most of her Aria's so called 'average' brothers and sisters are just as weird and kooky as Val is...personally, I think they get that all from Aria. ;)

Oh, and if any doubt lingers on after this chapter about how the humans feel about each other, I will paint myself purple and fly around the neighborhood walmart singing the flying purple people eater song. ;3

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><p>...<p>

The Long Road Home

19 – Mechanical Matchmakers – 19

"I'm tellin' ya, Prowl cheats at cards. How else does he win e'ry single time?"

Mirage's words were met with a disbelieving wave of the arm from Jazz. Hound just shook his head at the both of them.

"Ha! Prowler cheatin'." Jazz slurred slightly as he reached for the bottle of high grade they had set in the middle of the table and poured them each another round. "Tha's almost s'crazy as Prowler…laughin'!"

He cracked up at his own joke, Mirage joining him in an uncharacteristic burst of laughter of his own. Hound just chuckled at the both of them. Sometimes being the unlucky one going on duty first had its advantages. Still being sober enough to watch these two talk nonsense and laugh themselves into stasis was probably the funniest thing he'd seen all vorn!

Not that he was in too good a position to talk, Hound thought as he picked up his glass and leaned back in his chair. He was sober_est_, not sob_er_.

_"Wait, that emphasis was wrong." _He thought, then shrugged. _"Which just proves my point!"_

Across from him, Jazz swung his feet up on the table again and leaned his chair back on two legs in a mighty dangerous position Hound thought, given the silver mech's current balance issues.

"Nah, Prowler don' cheat," Jazz started up again as he picked up his own glass, "at an'thin'. But I'm tellin' you he's got some kinda ace up his sleeve."

Mirage rolled his optics at Jazz. "Tha's called cheatin' smart aft."

"An' we don' even _have _sleeves." Hound reminded him.

"Ah mute it!" Jazz told them, swinging his arm again. His chair tipped back dangerously and they all froze, waiting to see if he'd crash and fall.

Hound frowned. That didn' make sense. Wha' was wrong with it…?

He snapped his fingers. Reverse it. In the temporal time-spect of things, it'd be fall first, _then_ crash.

But after a moment of wavering and wide-optic watching, Jazz's chair fell forward, leaving him upright with a jolt.

"Whoa." Jazz said as he took the klik to stare at the gap between the other two mechs sitting at the table with him.

Mirage sighed. "Dern it." Mirage grumbled before flipping Hound a credit.

"Thaaank you." Hound said with a wide grin as he managed to catch the credit. Not from the air. It hit the table, rolled and flipped off the edge. Then he caught it.

"Don' get used to it." Mirage grumbled. "He's gonna fall eventually. He always does."

"Yeah, but he doesn't more of'en then not. So that means _you_ pay _me_ more of'en then not." Hound gloated before taking another drink.

"Yeah, well," Mirage glowered at him, "jus' don' get used to it."

Hound raised his shot glass at him. "Course not."

"As I was sayin'," Jazz interrupted them as he leaned back in his chair, again, learning nothing from his near spill not even a cycle ago, "Prowler don' cheat. He's jus got some sorta speshal power." He told them, lowering his voice like it was a closely guarded secret.

"An' whazzat?" Hound asked sarcastically. "A spidey sense for when the twins do sumthin' stupid?"

"The ability to spot a broken rule from halfway 'cross the planet?" Mirage put in with a snicker.

"Nah, not anythin' like _that_," Jazz said. Then he leaned forward, casting furtive glances around him as if he thought someone was listening in on their conversation. Automatically Hound looked around too, and then mentally smacked himself since the room was empty. No one was up at this hour if they didn't have to be. Present company of mentally questionable mechs excluded of course.

Jazz leaned forward a little more, Mirage and Hound matching him until they were all practically lying on the table.

"He's psychic!"

Hound and Mirage instantly leaned back. "Areya kiddin' me?" Hound asked loudly. "Psychic? If Prowl were psychic then he would know when to get outta there whenever he was about ta glitch."

"Right," Mirage said as he set down his glass, "and the twins would never get another prank off, _ever_."

"I said psychic, not future seein' bot." Jazz told them. "It means he'sa mind reader." He clarified, moving his hands in wobbly circles around his head to illustrate what he meant. The other two would have been really confused if the high grade hadn't already been half emptied.

Mirage snorted out a very uncharacteristic laugh as he raised his glass and bit at the edge to keep from snorting the strong fluid through his air vents. "A mind reader? Tha's even worse. Prowl can barely read his own mind sumtimes."

Hound laughed until he started to shake. "Yeah, if he culd read other bots' minds he'd never be unglitched again."

"That and he wouldn' have such bad luck with the ladies." Jazz put in, totally forgetting that he was now shooting holes in his own theory.

"He may be hopeless when it comes to femmebots," Hound said, sounding far too knowing for the state his processor was in, "but bad luck ain't got nuthin' to do with it."

They all snickered at that.

"Too true." Mirage mumbled.

"Ya got tha' right." Jazz added. "But, uh, speakin' of femmes and bad luck," he suddenly said, slanting a devious look at Mirage, "I know what you did last orbit."

Mirage and Hound stared at the silver mech. "That didn' sound creepy at all." Hound said offhandedly.

"Shtalker." Mirage slurred, making sure to lean away from his friend.

Jazz glared at them. "Not tha' kinda weirdness ya creepers! I was talkin' about you talkin' with that human guy yesterday when the femmes got here. I know what ya was doin' there ya sneak." He said with a grin as he elbowed Mirage, upsetting his drink.

The blue and white mech glared at Jazz, which only made the other mech grin wider. "I don' what you're talking about." He said as he shook the high grade off of his hand. His usual dignified demeanor was ruined when he suddenly leaned too far to the left and nearly fell out of his chair.

The other two laughed at him as Mirage grabbed at the table, stopping his headlong crash to the floor. He resettled himself with as much injured dignity he could muster.

"So what'dya say to the guy?" Hound asked curiously as he leaned back comfortably in his chair, fixing his optics on Mirage.

The mech with the injured pride shot him a cool glance, aforementioned pride demanding that he not answer, but the rest of him was too busy wanting to answer to notice.

"Why? Whatsit to you?" He asked, his injured appearance broken somewhat by his words running together.

Hound threw him a lopsided grin and banged the armor above his spark. "Call it a vested interest." He said.

"Oh, right," Mirage mumbled, abruptly forgetting to be standoffish.

Jazz leaned an elbow on the table and propped his chin on his fist. "I don' get you Hound. I mean, I like the guy well 'nuff, but if you was me, and she was _my _kid sister, I'd at least wanna put 'im through his paces, ya know? Let 'im know I was a force to be reckoned with so he don' get the idea to do sumthing _too _stupid."

"Who? Nat?" Hound asked with a surprised laugh. "He doesn't strike me as the "stupid" type. If anythin', he's probably playin' it too safe." The dark green mech told them with a grin.

"Really?" Mirage asked. "I thought he had made himself clear enough."

Jazz grinned mischievously at him. "Then why'd ya feel the need to give 'im some pointers?"

Mirage straightened slightly, feigning offense. "Because Aria doesn' understand the concept of subtlety." He said stiffly. "And I didn' point out anythin' too him. I just," he shrugged his shoulders high and tried to keep the small grin off of his face, "gave him a push in the right direction."

Jazz chuckled. "Yeah, well if Val ever finds out ya was playin' matchmaker 'tween him and his Jie Mie he'll have yer hide."

"Only if he can find it." Mirage told them proudly. He would have winked out of sight then, but he temporarily forgot how to activate his cloak.

"Primus blast it all," he grumbled, trying to get the dang thing to work.

The other two watched him for a moment, and then gave up and looked at each other.

"Yeah, so he's not so bad. I think he's a good sort ac'ually. And Aria likes him." Hound said, taking the attention off of Mirage as he decided to put in one last word on the subject.

"And besides," he added a moment later with a broad smile, "scarin' 'im's what _Val_ is fer."

They all laughed, finding the youngest Wrecker's overprotective streak ridiculously funny at the moment. That and they were all in on the betting pool that had sprung up a few orbits ago on when Aria would finally get tired of his mother hen attitude and snap. Jazz's estimated date of snaptitude was coming up here pretty quick, come to think of it.

"Aha!" Mirage suddenly shouted as he figured out what he thought were the right relays. "Got ya now ya little-"

He trailed off as he activated what he thought was his cloak. Of course it wasn't. In the state he was in it would have been nothing short of a miracle if he had remembered what he was even doing.

Jazz and Hound jumped in their chairs as a little black and purple lab tech with bug eyes appeared where Mirage had been sitting since they'd first sat down a joor ago when Mirage and the femmes had first arrived. It was probably a sign that they weren't nearly as drunk as most would have thought they were when they didn't go for their blasters. What remained of their common sense shouted at them that Mirage had basically just pushed the wrong button.

The illusion winked out almost as soon as it appeared, leaving Mirage's familiar frame sitting in his chair looking more dismayed then embarrassed at the mistake.

"S'rry," he muttered sharply, "meant to delete that one when I got back."

"S'no problem." Hound told him. "Who was the little creep anyway?"

Mirage leaned back heavily in his chair as their comedic interplay abruptly disappeared. "A lab tech of Shockwave's. M'cloak was shorted out and I needed something to get me through the base without raising too many optic ridges."

"Ah," Hound mumbled. Jazz remained silent as he stared down at his glass, running a finger absentmindedly along the rim. Mirage just stared at the table without seeing it.

Hound's optics flicked from one friend to the other, sensing the underlying agitation in each of them.

"Somethin' else happen when you were getting out?" Hound asked.

Mirage vented a low sigh and rubbed at his face with one hand. "Just," he started hesitantly, his gaze still distant, "saw something I really wish I hadn't."

Hound looked his friends over again.

"You wanna talk about it?" He finally asked.

Mirage looked over at his superior. Jazz just gave a slight nod. This wasn't a secret per say. It wasn't well known either because it was disturbing as Pit to talk about and no one that knew about it liked to bring it up, but if they were really out for some mental torture they _could_ talk about it.

"He was creating," Mirage grimaced, "sparklings. In his lab. Or at least, he was trying to."

Hound stared at him, at first unable to even process what Mirage had said.

"Sweet Primus," he mumbled when it finally sunk in.

Mirage nodded automatically as he stared at something that wasn't there. "He's got 'em in these green sac looking things. The stronger ones tore through it when they…hatched. Most of the ones I saw were already extinguished and the ones that weren't were," he struggled to find the right word for what he'd seen, "suffering."

Hound felt faintly sick. No, take that back, he felt really sick.

"But," Hound started thinking again, "where'd he get the parts? And the sparks? The Well of AllSparks sealed itself off and practically all of the femmes still online are here."

Mirage shrugged but didn't look at him. "I don't know." He muttered.

"I just don't get it. Where'd he get the-"

"Let me rephrase that," Mirage cut him off in a loud voice as he looked up at Hound with angry blue optics, "I don't _want _to know."

Hound met his cold gaze for a minute. "Fair enough." He finally mumbled. It was fairly obvious why Megatron would want to find a way to create more soldiers for his army. And then if they were young enough, he could indoctrinate them so they would follow him without question, do anything he wanted and never ask why.

"He's a sick son of a glitch." Jazz muttered, reading the horrified look on Hound's face.

The other two just nodded distantly, although Hound wasn't sure if he meant Megatron or Shockwave.

"I'm not even sure what's worse," Mirage said dully, "if Shockwave gets this to work or if he doesn't."

Hound squeezed his optics shut and rubbed at the spot between them as if that could erase the horrible images playing around in his head. It was also clear they needed a change in subject fast or the mix of murder and high grade was going to make him violently ill.

"D'ya suppose tha's e'en possible?" Jazz suddenly asked.

Mirage scowled at him. "I saw it with my own optics-" he started to say, but Jazz shook his head.

"Nah, not that," he said softly, "I meant not bein' able taread yer own mind? Canya do that or not?"

It was an obvious exercise in avoidance, but Hound and Mirage weren't about to complain. That was what this whole night with the bottle was about – avoidance and denial. They ended up doing this whenever the three of them were off duty during the same brief space of time, which didn't happen very often.

Was it wrong, Hound asked himself, possibly. A good way to deal with their problems? Definitely not. Did it help? Absolutely.

_"It may be the wrong way of goin' about things, but it let's us keep our sanity for another orbit."_ He thought as Jazz passed around the bottle again and he took it.

Jazz raised an optic ridge at him. "Ya sure about that Hound? Don't you have to report in later in the morning? Yer gonna have one Pit of a hangover at this rate." He pointed out, no doubt repaying Hound for the, eh, 'favor' the green mech had done him of talking him out of one more shot the last time they got together.

"Ya," Mirage joined in, swaying slightly as he turned to look at Hound with slightly narrowed optics, "an' isn't this yer first time back on duty since yer leg got blasted? What'll Ratchet say when he fines out?"

"_If_ he finds out ya mean," Hound pointed out.

Jazz snickered behind his glass. "Ratch' fines out ev'rythin' Hound. A'course he'll fine out."

Hound chuckled and held up the cube of clear fluid he had brought with him. "Only if you two rat me out cuz _I _brought a secret weapon with me this time." He told them with a grin. "Sunny and Sides super secret hangover cure. Least," he added looking at the side of the container, "that's what they've written on it. Just don' tell Ratchet I snitched it from him."

Jazz nodded appreciatively. "Very nice."

Mirage just snickered at him. "And here I though' you were already sober Hound. Tha's wha'ya kept tellin' us at any rate." He pointed out with another slurred laugh.

The dark green mech just grinned crookedly at him. "M'still sober enough to know that you two are trashed." Hound told them levelly. Or as levelly as he could anyway.

Mirage instantly took offense. "High standing bots such as ourselves do not get _trashed_." He insisted, drawing himself up to a wobbling height as he tried to put a hand to his chest, missed, and got it right the second time.

Hound rolled his optics at him and cut the other mech off before he was forced to listen to this. _Again_. "Right, right, how could I forget? The word is 'snockered'."

Jazz immediately started laughing. "Snockered," he sniggered, "'s a funny word."

Hound just rolled his optics at them again and subspaced his secret weapon before something bad could happen to it. Like one of his friends stealing it for example.

Fortunately before the idea could pop into their trashed- wait, _snockered_ heads, some familiar faces came through the open doorway.

"I think I saw them around here somewhere…" Firestar said as she appeared from the hallway. Her optics glowed a little brighter for a klik when she spotted them. "Aha! There they are."

"Man, you guys are a tough bunch to find." Moonracer said as she and Arcee filed in behind the red and orange femme, a smaller figure at their heels.

"Tha's because we're jus' that good." Jazz said as they joined them at the table. He glanced down at the smaller figure, then did a double take. "Nat!" He said with a too-wide smile. "We were jus' talkin' about ya man. How're ya?"

Nathanial eyed the smallest mech there. "A mite better then you it looks like. What did you three _do_ to yourselves?" He asked taking in Hound and Mirage as well.

"Nuthin' you probably haven' done afore yerself." Mirage said, which made him and the other mechs laugh.

Firestar just looked down flatly at Nathanial. "And you're going to ask _them_ for help?"

Nathanial slowly leaned towards the red femme and whispered. "This played out much better in my head when they _weren't_ sauced to the gills."

Firestar raised an optic ridge at him. "Come again?"

"You know," Nathanial said with a vague wave of his hand as he stared in complete disbelief at the three mechs in front of him, "sauced." But Firestar just gave him a blank look so he tried, "sloshed," nothing, "trashed, snockered, drunk," then in a last ditch effort he gestured at the mechs, "_that_."

"AHA!" Mirage shouted, flinging an arm out to point at Nathanial. "He says it too!"

Jazz just started snickering again.

Arcee put her hands on her hips and slanted a disbelieving look at the human man. "Mister, you are in _sooo_ much trouble."

Nathanial gave the three mechs – who were _all_ laughing now – an uncertain look. And then as if he had unconsciously been planning it this whole time, Jazz's chair abruptly slipped out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor with a resounding crash.

Mirage gave Hound a sneaky smirk and held out a waiting palm to him. Hound just vented in aggravation before slapping the same credit Mirage had given him earlier back in the blue and white mech's hand. Jazz just sat there, rubbing at his helm in confusion.

"Well how'd ah get down here all sudden like?" He asked nobody in particular.

Nathanial's shoulders slumped and Firestar gave him an understanding pat on the back.

"Frack," he muttered, "I'm doomed."

...

It was very peculiar, Optimus reflected later that lunar cycle, being able to feel other species through bonds, even if he wasn't really fully connected to Aria. They had an informal bond which meant that the only reason he could sense the little human at all was because his sparkmate, Elita-One, could feel her.

_"Which might play into the peculiarity a bit. Informal bonds always feel a little different then direct ones." _He thought as he stared impassively out at the sleeping city of Iacon.

Usually he wasn't able to feel anything from Aria at all, but since Elita had returned his connection with his small friend was stronger then it had been in a long time.

Optimus shifted slightly at the thought, removing his hands from where he had clasped them behind his back and letting them hang next to his sides before he went back to staring at the night scene in front of him. He was near the middle of the city, in a beaten and tattered atrium that had been ingeniously placed so that it was at once shielded from sight by the buildings that surrounded it, but also had a good view of the rest of the city beyond. Optimus usually came out here when he needed to think. Here he could find some uninterrupted time to process what was going on around him without having to worry about if he was too exposed incase the Seekers appeared for another of their air raids. The fact that the atrium was also enough removed from the hectic edges of the city to be encased with some degree of silence also helped.

But the inside of his head was anything but quiet tonight. After so long without feeling any of Aria's fluctuating emotions, having them abruptly appear again felt almost uncomfortable. It was like putting on a heavy piece of armor he hadn't used in a long time. He knew he would get used to her again, if Elita and the femmes stayed close long enough, but right now the contact was chaffing at his core, making him fidget.

_"Leaders aren't supposed to fidget." _He thought automatically, like a teacher reminding a wayward student of a long standing rule.

Slight movement on the other end of the invisible string that tied him and Aria together lightly tugged at Optimus, grabbing his attention. He focused inward as the string at Aria's end tightened as she woke from the tossing and turning she called sleep. He thought of reaching out to ask her what had woken her, but quickly thought better of it. He told himself it was only because he didn't want to disturb her further, and closed down his own emotions so they wouldn't leak through to the little human.

The angry little voice that was never happy with anything he did and lived at the back of his mind abruptly kicked him. A small wave of guilt swept over Optimus as he remembered how reassured he had used to feel before, whenever he felt the little human's presence through his sparkmate, but now the informal bond between them felt unsure, wavering under the burden of words, both unspoken and held back, that sat between the two of them.

Unconsciously, Optimus' optic ridges drew closer together as he thought. Perhaps it was only because he had gotten too accustomed to the void where Aria now was, he told the small voice as it went to sulk somewhere in the back of his head. This was the first time in a long while that Elita had been this close to both of them after all. Perhaps he was just…too comfortable with the void.

With a heavy whoosh of air, Optimus leaned forward against the safety railing that enclosed the atrium. It was true. He knew it was true. And the thought made him cringe. He hadn't just grown unused to Aria's faint presence; he had forgotten how to interact with her at all. He had gotten so used to feeling nothing from her that he now found if constricting to even feel the slightest whisper of emotion from the organic femme – one of his longest standing supporters, and friend.

_"What changed?"_ He asked himself as he stared out the viewing slit without seeing the dark cityscape beyond. _"Definitely not Elita. And I don't think Aria either, which just leaves-"_

A soft sound behind him drew him out of his thoughts. He turned halfway around to see Elita-One standing in the doorway, watching him with her beautiful, blue optics as she rested a strong, long fingered hand against the door frame.

He felt his whole frame freeze up when he saw her. He couldn't help it. It still took him by surprise whenever he saw her and was forcefully reminded that she was _there. _Physically. With him. After being apart for so long, seeing her standing right there next to him felt almost like a lightening strike to his sensors.

He knew she felt his shock – again – by the look on her face. Her small smile did nothing to slow the electric current that sang from his very core, out to his fingers, and back again. If anything it made the current a little brighter.

Her amusement stayed on her face as she crossed the empty space to where he was standing, her sensors alerting her to the debris littering the outer edges of the floor so she didn't trip over them. "Jazz told me I might find you out here." Elita said, her calm voice low in the dark room. A moment later she was close enough to put her hand behind his shoulder.

Optimus jumped slightly at the contact. Elita only laughed quietly at him as she slid her hand down to rest on his arm instead. "And here I thought I had tired you out. Couldn't you rest?" She asked him, her mouth turned up at one corner as her bright optics danced playfully even in the middle of the city wide blackout.

Optimus hesitated a moment too long and Elita's teasing grin faded as she caught sight of the uneasiness hiding in his optics.

"Optimus?" She asked, her voice much softer now as she stepped closer to him. "What is it beloved? What's wrong?"

For a fraction of a klik, Optimus stared out at the battered city, his sensors giving him the layout of the scene in front of him where his optics saw only the concealing darkness of the mandatory blackout. But then he let go of a heavy gust of air and hung his head, finally turning away from the city spread out below and above him.

"Just…" he tried to find the right words to explain everything that had happened since he had spoken to Elita last, "…Ariah."

The single word explained more then it should have as it confirmed several of Elita-One's suspicions. Her sparkmate's dejected posture and withdrawn look did nothing to alleviate her fears. "What about Aria?" She asked, more of her concern entering their bond along with her voice. But still he didn't answer her. "Optimus," she said quickly as she stepped in front of him and placed a gentle hand on his cheek, making him look at her, "what happened?"

For a long moment Optimus met Elita-One's worried optics.

"I'm," he tried to say, "not sure how to explain." He managed to tell her.

Elita waited, her optics never leaving his.

Gradually, he found the words. He told her everything he could remember, starting from his flare in temper down in the sub-levels to Ariah's attempt to speak with him in the Hall of Records. It was harder to explain what had happened between them since then, mainly because they had both been avoiding each other like cosmic rust, but somehow Optimus managed to explain his stressed relationship with the little human to Elita-One.

Elita for her part was quiet as he spoke, her only movement the occasional blink of her optics as she listened. Unlike with Jazz, Optimus couldn't find the slightest trace of anger in her face as she watched him. Even through their bond he couldn't feel anything other then her patience, and possibly a touch of sorrow. But then that subdued sorrow had been a part of Elita for so long that Optimus could barely remember a time when he hadn't sensed it in her spark.

It made his own ache to think about it because he knew from his own experience that that sorrow could never be forgotten or erased, as much as he wished he could relieve her of it. Feeling the same sadness in her that he felt at the tremendous loss of life and continuing desolation of their home almost made Optimus wish that Cybertron had continued on as it had been before the war, trapped in the iron law of the caste system and its peace, even if it had been a false peace. At least then they could have had a chance at something resembling normalcy – a life together, children, family, happiness. But…

Optimus shuttered his optics for a long moment. But it wouldn't have stayed peaceful. With the way the ruling council and the guild heads had constricted the lives of the Cybertronians, Optimus knew that if for some reason Megatron had held his tongue and let things continue on as they had been, eventually someone else would have spoken up. Things would have disintegrated into the same civil war they were fighting now. Perhaps by letting the war start when it did, Primus had spared him the bitter taste of knowing happiness only to have it shattered before his optics, with him helpless to prevent it.

Not wanting to dwell too long on 'what ifs', Optimus turned his attention back to the matter at hand. However he held Elita a little closer than before, both to his frame and with their sparkbond. She drew closer and Optimus felt some of the sorrow leave them both.

Eventually he ran out of words and fell silent. The urge to fidget was even stronger now as he waited to hear what Elita would say about the new strain between him and Aria. When she finally did speak up, he couldn't really say that he was surprised by what she said.

"You should talk with her about what happened."

Optimus was silent a long moment, his optics once again firmly fixed on the black city stretched out before the hidden atrium.

"And say what?" He asked. His voice came out harder then he had meant, but he feared of what else of what he might say if he said anything else, so he didn't try to amend his harsh tone.

Elita remained un-phased. She could sense her beloved's inner turmoil. "That you're sorry. That you only worry about her safety. That that was why you found it so difficult to speak with her when she visited you." She told him calmly, then a half hearted smiled pulled at one corner of her mouth. "It's only the truth."

Optimus pulled away from Elita and leaned heavily on the railing that stood between the atrium and the sheer drop of the outside of the building. He stared down at the blackened metal railing with hard optics. "I can't." He finally said.

He could feel Elita's level stare on his exposed neck. "Why?" She asked, some of her equilibrium giving way to confusion.

"Because that would show favoritism and as leader of the Autobots I can't-"

"I'm not asking you to show favoritism." Elita cut him off, taken aback by his seeming indifference. "She's your friend Optimus."

"She is my subordinate. I will treat her no different then any other of my soldiers." He said sharply, not even noticing he had raised his voice until the words had left his mouth.

Elita's shock resonated through their bond like a snap to his core. Automatically he began to withdraw in on himself, closing off his emotions as he turned a hard on the blackened city.

"Stop it!" Elita snapped almost in panic. Optimus' felt his optics open wide at the clear alarm in his sparkmate's voice, but before his rational mind could make sense of what had just happened, Elita grabbed the top of his chest armor and pulled him around to face her. The undisguised fright in her optics made him go cold.

"Don't do that." She whispered to him, a pleading note entering her voice. "Don't shut me out."

Her words hit him with more force then an ion cannon blast. What was he _doing_? A rocky relationship with Ariah was one thing, but Elita was the one – the only one – he was this close to. He had no secrets from her and she didn't keep any from him. So what was he doing pulling away from her?

Horror mixed with enough guilt to swamp him crashed over him as he met his sparkmate's worried optics. "I'm sorry," he said instantly, "Elita I'm," he tried to find more words to show his remorse, but all he could think to say was a repeated, "I'm sorry."

He had opened himself to her again almost as soon as he realized what he had done, but it wasn't until now that he hesitantly reached out to her through their bond. He stopped what you could possibly call halfway through, not wanting to touch her if she didn't want him to.

He needn't have worried. She rushed to meet him, both inwardly and physically. They were wrapped around each other almost before he quite knew what was going on.

"I love you." He told her firmly, needing to say it out loud. There was enough certainty in his voice that she would have believed him if he'd told her Megatron was a saint. "I'm sorry." He murmured again.

Elita felt relief wash over her as their bond was flooded with emotion from both sides. She suddenly thought what a good thing it was he was already holding her up otherwise her traitorous knee joints would have left her on the ground.

"I know." She said softly. "I know. Just don't ever do that again." She mumbled as she leaned her head against his shoulder, shuttering her optics as she let the force of their bond envelope her. It was strong enough to make her dizzy.

"No." He told her. "Never again. I'm sor-"

He was cut off as Elita suddenly looked up and met his mouth with hers.

With as much strong emotion there was zinging back and forth between them, it took them awhile to resurface.

"What were we talking about again?" Elita mumbled a moment later when they pulled apart.

Optimus had to search his mind to remember. "Ariah?" He didn't really want to talk about Ariah now.

"Oh, right," Elita said, her voice sliding back towards its usual tone. "Your friend." She pressed.

"Can't we talk about my friends later?" Optimus asked, somewhat impatiently.

"At this rate there won't be a later." Elita mumbled, but she didn't move away. "She is my sister first you know."

As difficult as it was for him to concentrate when she still had her arms wrapped around his neck, Optimus still managed to listen enough to feel confused. "Who? Ariah?"

"No," Elita said, "Arcee. She's my sister first, then my subordinate. It doesn't mean I favor her any more than the others. I just love her like my sister, even if I can't keep her out of harms way."

"Ah," Optimus said, although his processor was still having trouble discerning why she was telling him this when he had found the movements of her mouth before much more intriguing.

Elita hardly needed their bond to tell he wasn't focusing on what she was saying. With a low, bright laugh, she pushed him back far enough that the space could clear their heads at least a little. "You are too easily distracted." She told him with a playful grin, optics dancing in the dark in front of him.

"It's a very good distraction." He told her simply.

Elita laughed again, a sound that chased away the lingering fears from both of them. However when she spoke again, some of her seriousness had returned.

"Optimus," she said somewhat carefully, "do you know why I keep fighting?"

That made him pause a moment. Was this some sort of trick question? "Because freedom is worth preserving and if Megatron wins he'll rule the world as a tyrannical despot?" He asked with only a slight hesitation.

Elita blinked in the darkness. "Well yes, there's that of course," she said, "but that's not what I meant."

A small grin found its way onto Optimus' face as Elita recovered from the logic gap in her words. There was no doubt that she was a clever femme, but sometimes she got so caught up in the debate in her head that she forgot to explain her logic to whoever she was talking with. He knew for a fact that it annoyed straight forward Chromia, but Optimus couldn't help but find her passion endearing.

"What did you mean then?" He asked her gently, his small smile still in place.

"That you can't isolate yourself from those that care about you." She said decisively, her blue optics firmly fixed on him now. "That you need to rely on someone and if you can't rely on good friends like Aria, who, as you once told me, has had more faith in you then you once did, then who can you trust?"

For a klik, Optimus couldn't find the words to answer her. "But-" he stammered in his shock, "but I do trust her." He finally managed to say.

Elita took a half step forward, closing the distance between them and placing a hand on his chest. "Then trust that she will be alright. I know she hasn't been out in the field recently-"

Optimus barely held in his scoff at the severe understatement. "Recently? She hasn't even been out of the city since-"

"I know." Elita said quickly, her voice softer than before. She didn't like talking about that. None of them did. "I know why she hasn't left. Everyone does. But that doesn't mean she's going to stay in here forever. And it doesn't mean she's forgotten how to fight either. She can protect herself."

"And when she slips up?" Optimus asked back, sounding tired. "We all do eventually. Sometimes we survive the mistake and other times…" he trailed off, optics unfocusing as he stared off into the middle ground.

"Other times we aren't so fortunate." Elita finished for him.

Optimus nodded, optics gazing at the ground even though he didn't see it. "She's already been shot through the heart. And Megatron has already shown that he remembers her from her last trip out of Iacon. If he decides to target her again-" he came back to himself when he realized he had started shaking his head, "I just don't see how her luck will hold." He could hardly see how it had held this long as it was. "If she goes up against Megatron _again_-" he broke off.

Elita remained as calm as ever. "Then her death will not be your fault."

Optimus shifted his optics from the ground to his beloved. "My fault?" He asked a wry grin without a trace of humor to it tugging weakly at one corner of his mouth. "Weren't we talking about Aria's luck?"

"We were talking about you first." Elita reminded him. "And that's what you're really worried about isn't it?" She asked point blank, leveling her optics at Optimus. "That your fondness for her will get her killed."

Optimus stared back at his beloved's adamant optics, denial leaping automatically into his mouth. But he stopped.

"You're taking this much better then Jazz did," Optimus murmured a moment later, veering ever so slightly from their main topic. "He just about threw me through the window right then and there when he found out."

"It would be nothing that didn't deserve I'm sure," Elita murmured back, only somewhat gently.

Her words caught him by surprise and he took a half step back so he could see her face.

Elita-One just vented a small sigh. "It's not that I don't understand what you are thinking," she told him, "that you're only doing this because you're worried she'll get hurt, and to some extent I can even understand the course of action you've taken…" she trailed off.

"But?" Optimus asked, sensing the word hanging at the end of Elita's unfinished sentence.

Elita vented that same, small sigh. "But," she said again, "I think you are going the wrong way about it. Staying away from her doesn't ensure her safety any more then remaining by her side as if you were suddenly glued to her would. This silence between the two of you won't protect her and is only making the both of you _miserable_."

Optimus thought about that, and then after a klik, slowly shook his head.

"You always did know me best." He murmured, admitting the cause of his worry for the first time to anyone, even his own self.

A tiny smile quirked at Elita's mouth, but it was enough to make his spark 'flop', as Aria would say. Personally he preferred the word 'flustered' to describe what Elita's smile did to him. And it didn't exactly un-fluster him any when she rested a hand against the side of his face and leaned her forehead against his.

"Inside and out." She murmured.

They were silent another long moment, basking in the glow of being so close to each other again. That was another good word, Optimus thought distantly, basking.

"I'll talk to her." Optimus remembered to say before they got too lost in each other. "Soon." He added. He didn't know how, or what he would say, but he'd say something. He'd try and fix this. Somehow.

He felt more then saw Elita's smile broaden. "I was hoping you'd say that." She murmured back. "But it can still wait till tomorrow. Now," she sidled closer, her free hand coming to rest somewhere behind his shoulders, "come here."

Optimus laughed quietly at her forwardness, but adjusted his own hold on her.

"Gladly."

...

Halfway across the building, Jazz was lounging against the aerialbot hangar bay wall.

"Sooo…" the silver mech drawled as his head lolled to look over at Nathanial working a short distance away, "wha' we doin' here again?"

Wheeljack's old adhesive failed again and another wire fell off the wall to land on Nathanial's face. The man glared at the wall, getting frustrated with the failing glue along with Jazz's incessant questions. It didn't help that this was the fifth time he had asked that one question.

"B'cuz!" Mirage spoke up from where he was hanging the rest of the speaker wires along the wall and out the door near where Jazz was sitting propped upright by the wall. "We're tryin' sumthin' new!"

From where she was standing a few feet away holding more wire against the wall as she waited for the unreliable glue, Moonracer raised a sea green optic ridge at the mech as he swayed slightly on his feet. "And that would be…?"

Mirage smiled at the femme – which may have freaked her out more then anything she had seen in the past orn – and gave a wide swing of his arm to take in the room they were temporarily fitting with a decent speaker system.

"Helpin'!" He told her. "'s a new essperiance for _e'vrybody!"_ He swung his arms again and almost fell over.

Moonracer raised the other optic ridge at him now too. "Speak for yourself." She mumbled.

Nathanial pointedly ignored them both as he tried to dislodge the wire that was now apparently glued to his face. He tugged at it only to find that Wheeljack's ancient glue had finally done its job and hardened into a thick, gooey, paste.

"Of course," Nathanial muttered before sucking in a deep breath and ripping the wire off of him. If came off like a bandage that had been stuck too tight, ripping away some hair with it.

Nathanial reached up and flinched when he realized half of his left eyebrow had stuck with the glue. He blew out a despondent sigh, his shoulders slumping forward as he halfheartedly stuck the wire – temperamental glue, half of his eyebrow, and all – into place on the wall.

"This wall's finished." Nathanial told the others, half of which were too inebriated to understand him properly, much less remember what they were even doing this for.

"This is crazy," Nat started muttering to himself, "this is crazy and I should just give up and try again later when things aren't all going _wrong_."

Across the room, Moonracer smacked Mirage upside the head and told him to quick goofing around. Mirage only snickered at her.

Nathanial blinked at them, then continued towards the door, mumbling as if nothing had distracted him in the first place.

"She's never going to go for this half-aft attempt at a dance hall. She's going to laugh me off of the planet."

Somewhere between his chest and the back of his neck he felt a sudden pull. _"What are you doing human? You're making it hard for me to sleep!"_

Nat stopped and rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling the tether stone with his fingers. _"Sorry Peg." _He thought back. _"I'm just…thinking."_

He practically felt Peg snort at him. _"Well you're not doing a very good job of it." _She griped. _"What are you even worrying over at this time of the lunar cycle? Even the silver and gold bothers are sleeping at this hour. Go to your stall already!"_

Nathanial grinned crookedly at Peg's demand. _"Sorry Peg, can't sleep."_

Peg snorted again and he thought he felt her pawing the ground irritably at him this time as well. _"Try." _Peg told him.

_"I'm a bit busy right now Peg."_ Nathanial sent back with a roll of his eyes.

_"Then try harder."_

Nathanial narrowed his eyes slightly even though no one was in front of him, much less the snappy creature that served as her own high horse. _"I'm trying to put something together for Aria Peg."_ He finally told her.

Peg instantly perked up. _"Like a present?"_ Peg asked excitedly.

Nathanial rubbed at his temples. He had felt a headache coming on for awhile now, ever since he had seen Mirage, Hound, and Jazz neck deep in a bottle of high grade come to think of it. Why couldn't he have just talked to Aria about this when he had seen her earlier? Because he was chicken, that's why. And he hadn't just wanted to blurt out that he liked her. He had wanted to do something special. Something that would show her that he didn't just think of her as his warden, or even just his friend. Somethat that said he was glad she was here.

He looked around the room at the half taped wires, three barely standing mechs, and three femmes with disbelieving looks to match.

Unfortunately, _this_ was the best he could think of.

_"Yes Peg, like a present."_ Nat finally answered his steed.

Their tether jiggled a little bit as Peg started doing a happy little dance. _"Well it's about time human."_ She told him, sounding beyond pleased with him. Nathanial wasn't sure but he thought that he hadn't seen her this happy since he had brought out the apples in Wheeljack's lab. _"Now you make sure to be nice to her. And tell her she's pretty! Oh! And if you still have any sugar lumps on you, now's the time to give it to her!"_

Nathanial rubbed at his temples again. _"We're just going dancing Peg. It's not that big a deal." _He lied.

On the other end of the line, Peg immediately went still._ "Dancing?"_ She repeated. _"Isn't that going out of order? Shouldn't you just start with telling her she's pretty before you-"_

_ "Peg!" _Nathanial shouted at her. _"I said dancing! Dance-ing. Not _that_."_

Nathanial was sure Peg was now switching her ears in confusion. _"But Rifkin's Lady Gray told me that when humans say they're dancing they really mean-"_

_ "NO!"_ Nathanial shot back. _"Lady Gray is wrong!"_

There was silence between them for a moment before Peg added with an injured huff, _"Lady Gray said you'd say that. She says humans are very touchy on this subject."_

Nathanial sighed explosively and slapped a hand to his eyes. There was just no use in arguing when Peg thought she was right. _"Whatever," _he grumbled back, _"look, since you're up anyway, do you know where Aria is right now? Have you seen her around?"_

_ "Oh yes," _Peg immediately answered back, perking right up, _"I saw her just a little while ago. She couldn't sleep either, but I was tired, so I asked her to please go away and not talk to me until the sun was up again. I think she went looking for you."_

_ "And what makes you think that?" _Nathanial asked, wanting to be clear on the matter what with Peg's numerous misunderstandings concerning humans.

_"Because I told her where you are." _Peg answered blithely. _"Or at least, where I thought you were. And I am _always _right." _She told him proudly.

Nathanial didn't answer her. Between the insomnia and the stress, his brain had just shorted out.

_"You…WHAT?"_

Peg whuffled indignantly at him. _"I told her where you were." _She said again. _"Why are you angry? Isn't that what you wanted?"_

Nathanial had no answer, and he didn't have time to think of one before Arcee suddenly whispered, "She's here!" from the open doorway. Instantly the bots hid – Firestar grabbing Jazz by the back of his neck armor and hauling him out of sight as Moonracer shoved Mirage, sending him crashing to the floor where Aria wouldn't be able to see him, before jumping into the hiding space next to him. Fortunately for Arcee, Hound was still stable enough to hide on his own.

Leaving Nathanial standing in the middle of an empty room looking like an idiot with only one intact eyebrow when Aria finally appeared in the open doorway.

_"See?" _Peg asked almost snidely from the other end of their connection. _"I give good directions."_

And then she just as kindly left him alone in his own head once again.

Aria turned her head and, of course, saw him standing there. She instantly smiled at him.

"Hey Nat, I was hoping you were still up. You would not believe how long I lay in bed tossing and turning. I finally gave up when I realized that the glyphs on my ceiling were starting to look like President Lincoln wearing a clown nose." She laughed a little at herself, then stopped when she realized he hadn't. "Hey Nat," she said stepping close enough to make Nathanial's head spin, "are you alright there?"

_"Say something stupid! Say something!" _His brain yelled at him before his lungs jumped in, _"No, breathe first!"_

Nathanial did what they said, clearing his throat to try and cover the fact. "Yes," he answered Aria, "yes I'm, I'm fine."

Aria eyed him somewhat worriedly. "Uh-huh. That's why you're sweating in this freezing cold room." She told him flatly. Then here eyebrows drew closer together as she started to wonder at something. "What are you even doing in here anyway? Are the Aerialbots coming in or something? And what's with the wires?" She asked as she looked around the large hanger bay at the haphazardly drooping wires.

As soon as her back was turned a voice hissed out behind them, "Ask her to dance stupid!"

Nathanial shot a glare at the crates that served as the bots hiding place. "Mute it Mirage!" He hissed back. "Or I'll have Moonracer whack you again!"

A sharp clang of metal on metal was quickly followed by Mirage's annoyed, "Hey! He didn' say whack me now!"

Moonracer giggled deviously. "That's not what I heard."

"Yer gettin' far too much enjoyment outta this aren' ya femme?" Mirage muttered sourly at her.

Moonracer just cackled again.

Nathanial stood there, hand over his eyes again. "Me and my bright ideas…" he muttered. Fortunately Aria had stepped over to the wall farthest away from the lurking bots, so she didn't hear their muted quarreling, although Nathanial still thought that was a miracle.

"Both of you shut it before I fling you out of here." Firestar threatened the other two. "Jazz! Start the music already!"

Nathanial made a mental note to find a way to thank the red femme in a very big way later as music started to play. It was the wrong music – some kind of hard core rock and roll Earth music Jazz had hijacked off of Aria's Ipod – and it was exceedingly loud, but at least Moonracer and Mirage had been sent to their separate corners, so to speak.

Another sharp _'CLANG!' _fixed the music situation as well.

Aria did hear that. She stood up straight at the sound of Firestar's hand connecting with Jazz's back and looked around the room somewhat worriedly.

"What was that?" She asked Nathanial when she didn't see anybody.

"Uh…" was Nathanial's ready answer, "nothing, just the, ah, speakers."

Aria raised her eyebrows at him. "Speakers?"

Nathanial gestured at the wires, speakers attached at not so even intervals along the wall. "Yes, for the," he quickly cleared his throat again, "music."

Aria just looked more confused. "Music? In the Aerialbot hanger bay?"

"Yes, well," Nathanial said as he walked over to join Aria, "the Aerialbots won't be here for an orn or so, from what Prowl told me, so I was thinking, well- I mean I was hoping that, er…" he trailed off, words failing him completely.

Aria blinked at him, not comprehending him at all.

Nathanial closed his mouth and briskly sighed. "What I mean to say," he started again, making every word clear so he wouldn't start rambling mindlessly again, "is would you like to dance?"

Aria stared at him a mirco second.

"With me." Nathanial added, thinking maybe he hadn't been clear enough. "Here."

Aria managed to blink herself out of her surprise. "Now?" She asked, feeling somewhere between totally floored and completely delighted.

Nathanial's glanced around the room wondering when else he could have meant. "Yes."

"With you?" Aria asked just to be sure.

That made Nathanial even more anxious. Who else could he have meant? "Yes. With me."

"Right now. Like at this very moment?"

Why did she have to make this harder then it already was? "Yes."

Understanding made Aria's eyes widen slightly. "Oh…"

Nathanial waited a moment, but when she didn't say anything else he added somewhat nervously, "Is that a problem?"

Aria gave herself a little shake. "No." She told him quickly. "No, not at all. I just, um…"

She leaned forward slightly before finishing, "I can't really dance."

Nathanial straightened up slightly. Well that was unexpected.

"I mean," Aria quickly added as she started to fuss with her hair nervously, "I know a little from what Mirage taught me, but it's not all that much, and it's not even a human dance anyway, so…yeah." She continued to run her fingers nervously through her hair, sorting out the knots when they got in the way.

Nathanial found himself smiling softly at her. Seeing her so nervous gave him more insight then her rushed out words. He reached out and took her hand.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's all in the leading anyway?" He asked her, aiming for a lighter atmosphere.

Aria's mouth twitched in a smile too and, much to his relief, she didn't pull her hand away. Feeling encouraged, Nathanial tugged her back near the center of the impromptu dance floor.

"Now," he said as he placed her left hand on his shoulder, "this hand goes there, this one goes," he said as he held their still clasped hands to the side, "there, and my other hand goes behind your shoulder," he told her, hoping the close contact didn't freak her out too much, "so you don't get away." He ended with a somewhat lopsided grin.

Aria tried to keep the girly smile off her face but didn't quite succeed. Nathanial found the result much more charming then Aria would have thought, not that she was exactly thinking of herself right now.

"Now you're going to start by stepping back with your right foot," he told her before waiting for the right beat in the music to start, "now."

Before Aria quite knew what she was doing, she realized they were actually dancing, and not doing too bad a job at it either.

She couldn't resist a tiny giggle. "This is nice." She said, too happy even to kick herself for the plain sounding word 'nice'.

Nathanial's answering smile made the remaining piece of her heart beat a little faster and her spark glow a little brighter.

Behind their cover, Jazz was lazily snapping his fingers to the music. Everyone else was either too out of it or too distracted by the pair of slowly moving humans to tell him he was off beat. "Man, why can't ah play sumthin' a little faster. They're gonna get nowhere with this slow stuff." He slurred as he sat against the crates behind him.

Firestar felt pretty certain that they were the only things keeping him upright at this point. "No way." She told her sternly, making sure to keep her voice down.

"And besides," Arcee put in as she snuck another look at the pair dancing in the middle of the room, "that ridiculous silent act I saw going on was really getting them nowhere. This is ten times better then that."

Mirage snorted a laugh. "Jus' don' tell Val. He 'n 'Bee won' take this new devel-opment lyin' down."

From where she was still peeking over the crates, Arcee grinned deviously. "We'll just see what Jie Mei has to say about that."

Next to her, Hound snickered softly. "That's what I told 'em." He mumbled. Sunny and Sides' super secret hangover cure was starting to kick in by now, so his head felt a little clearer, although he was still going to have a none too pleasant processor ache when the stuff was out of his system. The good news was that would still be after he was off duty again, so he figured that was still a better deal then the alternative.

At the other end of the line of bots, Jazz suddenly hiccupped and the music changed with the grate of lagging music into some fast playing swing number.

Arcee hung her head and vented a sigh as Nathanial and Aria stopped moving and looked up at the speakers.

"I think your sound systems still got a few kinks in it." Aria told the man still holding her hands.

Nathanial sighed and shot a somewhat frustrated glance a the boxes stacked in the corner. "Tell me about it."

Mirage reached out and smartly whacked Jazz on the back, resetting the soft, slow music.

Firestar vented a sigh of her own. "Amateurs." She muttered.

The two humans just continued their slow dancing, quickly forgetting anything strange had even happened at all.

...

"I never knew the box step was so simple." Aria said later as she and Nathanial walked down the halls of Iacon. It was early in the morning by now and she was feeling a little punch drunk. It came with too little sleep.

_"But you won't catch me complaining!"_ Aria sang in her mind giddily as she grabbed a nearby pipe and spun around it with a grin. Nearby, Nathanial watched her with a small smile of his own.

"Well you caught on rather quick as well. It took me forever to learn anything. Of course," he added with an exaggerated shrug, "I hated it so…there's that too."

Aria spun around the pole again and stopped when she found herself facing Nathanial again. She smiled at him. "And what do you think about it now?" She asked him, biting her lip as much as for effect as overtired nerves.

The man put his hands in his pockets and shrugged his head once to the side. "It has its advantages." He admitted.

Aria stayed facing him a few seconds more, wondering how they might close the distant between them and which one of them might get the courage to close it first.

But then she finished her spin, went round to the side of the pipe farthest from Nathanial and started walking again. She kept her eyes on the ceiling, clasped her hands behind her back and tried not to look back to see if he was looking at her.

"So how's work on the ground bridge going?" Aria asked, and then wondered why she had asked such a stupid question when things had been going so well. But there wasn't any going back now so she asked, "Any progress?"

She heard Nathanial sigh somewhat frustrated. "Slowly. Obviously Wheeljack can't devout too much attention to it what with everything's that happened. And with the size of the tools needed to build it it's hard for me to do anything on my own."

"And that frustrates you doesn't it?" Aria asked with a slight smile. "You don't like relying on other people too much do you?"

Nathanial gave another one of those somewhat frustrated sighs. "Yes, you could say that." He told her, but Aria didn't miss the sharp edged that entered his grin when he answered her.

Aria nodded, but she got the feeling she had hit on a touchy subject, so she let it drop. "You wanna see something cool?" She asked him instead.

The frustration ebbed out of Nathanial's face and he gave her that same heart-stopping-spark-glowing lopsided grin. "Sure, why not?"

Aria beamed at him and took his hand to lead him forward. Nathanial was surprised by the contact, but didn't want to draw attention to it, afraid he might embarrass her and she'd let go.

She led him through hallways in the general direction of 'up'. He asked her where they were going of course, but she only winked at him and told him it was a surprise. After awhile he simply gave up asking and followed her in comfortable silence. He figured they were roughly near the very top of the building before Aria finally turned around, biting back a radiant smile.

"Alright," she said as she palmed open a door control set low enough in the wall for the cleaning drones – along with Aria – to reach, "here we are."

She led him into a dark room. A floor length window made up the far wall and large, lumpy shadows sat crowded in front of it. They were a few feet away before Nathanial realized the lumpy things were jumbled up blankets.

But it was the view that really caught his attention. They were at the top of one of the tallest buildings in the city and golden hued, ash covered buildings stretched out below them. Above them, stretching as far and as wide as infinity, was a blanket of stars that rivaled every other natural beauty Nathanial had ever seen.

"This is my quiet place," Aria murmured to him as they stood in front of the window, "I came here whenever the younglings were driving me absolutely crazy." She told him with a slight laugh.

"It's beautiful." Nathanial remembered to say. Aria nodded next to him as he stepped right up to the window and leaned forward so that his forehead touched the see through panes.

"Whoa." He said as a sense of vertigo overtook him. It was like there was nothing between him and the sheer drop, like he was floating in nothing but city and stars.

Aria just laughed good naturedly at him. "You look like Ferris Bueller." She told him.

He didn't know who that was so the conversation fell back into the comfortable silence. Soon they rearranged the blankets and sat down in front of the window to watch as the sun slowly began its climb over the far horizon.

"You know," Aria murmured tiredly some time later after they had gotten over the slightly awkward, excited moment when she had shuffled closer and laid her head on his shoulder, "you're kinda odd for a guy."

Nathanial could do nothing but blink at that. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"I mean," Aria went on when her sleepy mind realized how that could have sounded, "most guys I used to know wouldn't go dancing for _anything_. Especially ballroom sort of dancing like that. But you did." She gave a small laugh. "You're like a nicer, more outgoing version of Mr. Darcy," she paused, "or a less cheery version of Mr. Bingley."

Nathanial thought about this but couldn't resist finally asking, "Is that a good thing?"

Aria laughed quietly and drew a bit closer. "Yes. A very good thing."

Nathanial smiled, pleased with that, even if he had no idea who she was referring to. "You're not exactly run of the mill either. You're very different from other girls I've met. You actually speak your mind for one thing." He told her with a slight laugh of his own.

Aria was quiet a moment. "Is that a good thing?" She asked softly a moment later.

Nathanial chuckled as he moved a stray hair away from her face. "A very good thing." He told her.

He felt Aria relax again into his side and after a brief, internal argument, he gathered up the courage to carefully kiss the top of her head where it lay next to his chin.

Aria's eyes flew open where he couldn't see. She was wide awake now, even if she had been just on the very brink of sleep not two seconds ago. She felt her face turn red as the widest smile appeared on her face. Her brain stopped, her heart went faster, and she felt her toes curl under as something close to pure joy ran wild through her frame. She felt…she suddenly felt so…

She suddenly felt so human again.

Aria leaned back from Nathanial and met his eyes when he looked over to see what was wrong. She tapped a finger to her lips.

"You missed." She told him simply.

She nearly laughed out loud when his face suddenly burned bright red, but she didn't want him to think she was teasing, so she swallowed down her laughter. She could practically see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to decide what to do.

Aria leaned a little closer and closed her eyes, hoping he'd kiss her but not wanting to see the look in his eyes if he decided not to.

An endless moment passed…

…and then Nathanial leaned forward and met Aria in the middle.

Above them, the stars twinkled their merry laughter as they watched the couple kissing and sensed the collective exhalation from a handful of bots and one particularly impatient techno-organic as they all thought the same exasperated thing.

_"Well finally."_


	20. Chapter 20: Dark Reflections

...right sooo...remember this?

_Hi! I have run out of chapters and am leaving the country for a month to paint and receive school credit for it! Bye!_

_2 months later..._

..welllll yeah...I have no excuses other then the simple fact that it took me this long to finish the chapter and for that I am sorry. I guess it was the month I took off but for some reason it was _ridiculously_ hard to get my head back in the story. :P Blech, fun. What made it worse was that I knew what I wanted to happen _after_ the part I was writing but the stuff I was stuck at refused to come that easily.

So yeah...I am extremely sorry it took me so long. And thank you for all being so patient. Well, everyone _except_ the crazy girl I live with who may or may not share the same parents as me. Yes, yes, the infamous sister. You may have heard me refer to her as Grace before, but now she has decided to go by Mini-Grimmy (XD) She is also extremely adept at driving me crazy even though I missed her like crazy. She also has started reading my stories, which is why she gets a little extra attention right now. ;)

Not that you guys don't deserve any! You all are wonderful as usual. Thank you for your reviews and your patience! Hopefully you don't lose the patience part because, well, the next chapter is only a few paragraphs long, _again, _so this process may be repeated for a little while. At least until I can hit my stride again and remember what the heck I was doing...

^-^ Mrs. Mittens is so proud of me...

Now, thanks go to all the wonderful reviewers! Vivian Hale, Birgitte LP, Kitty XD, Bee4ever, Mercedes Wolfcry, Lady Amazon, Suzumehime, MummyRules, DeathByLackOfMusic, Autobot-Bre, Xireana Zetsubou, annebellelennox, RandomCitizen, Minirowan, Ishgirl (who was kind enough to pm for another chapter. ;) Thank you!) and PlagueBlood90 who changed his name but I am too lazy to look up to see what it is...

You are all so AMAZING! And I'm sorry I neither replied nor updated in a timely fashion. I hope another freakishly long chapter will help you forgive me even though it is rather sad in places...which is weird because I actually had something funny planned...what the heck happened to that? Hmm...

Anyway, thank you! I love ya! And I hope you're not so upset with me (or bummed at the inner workings of this chapter that I wrote when I was upset that my writing wasn't going like I wanted...) that you forget to reveiw. n_n;

Oh! And before I forget, Mirage's 'dream' is straight from the IDW comic Spotlight: Mirage. It just sort of found its way in there and will probably have nothing else to do with this story. It was just a random act of opportunity and I put it in cause it fit fairly well. Really. There's also another reference to a different continuity that I will tell you about next time because I want to see how many people catch it on their own. ;3

My sis is jumping in place telling me to 'postipostitpostit!" sooo, I'm gonna go...Hopefully I'll see you all next week!

...

The Long Road Home

20 – Dark Reflections – 20

"So what is it Uncle Ratch'?"

Ratchet looked up and frowned at the young femme suddenly standing next to him. He hadn't even heard her come in. Although that might have had more to do with how intently he had been studying the small object currently in front of him then anything sneaky Moonracer might have been planning.

He harrumphed at her quietly before going back to his studying, ignoring the sea green femme in favor of the molecular structure he could see on the other end of his microscope.

He didn't need to look up to know when Moonracer leaned over the table next to him to try and see what he was staring so fixatedly at. His concentration broke as he waited for the inevitable. He didn't have to wait very long.

"So what is it?" Moonracer whispered girlishly, sounding more like a youngling trying to irritate her guardian then an experienced Autobot warrior.

Ratchet lifted his head far enough to give the medbay doors on the other side of the room a flat stare. He vented a growl-like sigh, then pointedly bumped Moonracer away from the table and, consequently, him. Almost miraculously his mind cleared and he focused again on the object under the microscope.

At least until he heard a startled "Eep!" and an equally surprised "Ack!" followed by a crashing sound and the confounded silence that comes with two bots running into each other on complete accident.

Resignedly, Ratchet straightened up and turned to see Wheeljack and Moonracer in a tangled heap on the floor. It looked decidedly uncomfortable, possibly painful, and yet somehow humorous because, oddly enough, Moonracer had ended up more on top of Wheeljack then beside him. The engineer had been laid out, face down on the floor, spread eagle as he tried to catch himself and failed utterly. The data pads he had been carrying were now scattered about in front of him while Moonracer had inadvertently pinned him to the floor by falling on his back. She was almost doing a bridge, with her head upside down on the floor on Wheeljack's far side while her legs determinedly tried to find enough purchase to keep from mashing Wheeljack's doorwings into her back.

"What was that for Ratch'?" Moonracer said, her voice rising an octave or two to match her predicament.

"Ow, ow, _ow_!" Was all Wheeljack could mutter as his processor came to the point of all out crashing.

Ratchet tore his attention away from his specimen and leaned his hip against the table, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he did. He chuckled at the pair of them.

Moonracer lifted her head high enough glare at him. "This is so _not _funny Ratchet!" She had to pause as she almost lost her balance. Fortunately she caught herself before she flattened Wheeljack altogether. When she had found her grip again she added, somewhat loudly, "Help me up already!"

Ratchet pretended to think about it. "Well…" he drew the word out like Moonracer liked to do. She glared at him again.

And then crashed on top of Wheeljack – _again _– when her hands finally slipped out from under her.

Ratchet barked a short burst of laughter as the two tried to squirm away from each other only to end up prodding each other with sharp elbow joints. Wheeljack had just accidentally kneed Moonracer in the thigh and she ended up kicking him in return when the door to the medbay opened, not that any of them noticed.

There was a split second pause as the newcomers tried to make sense of the scene in front of them.

"Ratchet…" Optimus said slowly from where he and the other head officers were standing somewhat anxiously in the doorway, "What are you doing?"

Ratchet looked up, for the first time seeing the group that had come in. Aside from Optimus, Elita-One, and Prowl – whom Ratchet had been expecting – Ironhide, Chromia, and Jazz were also there, trying to see around their leader's shoulders so they could make out what had Ratchet doing his mad doctor's laugh.

Ratchet did his best to regain a straight face. "Nothing," he said crossly, "Moonracer and Wheeljack just had a little run in." He explained shortly as he yanked Moonracer up by the collar of her armor, leaving Wheeljack to fend for himself.

"Ooo…." the engineer groaned. He lay there a moment before even trying to get up. Moonracer fidgeted in embarrassment over him.

"Sorry 'Jack." She fussed, mortified that everyone had seen that. "Here, let me help you up." She bent down to grab his arm.

"No!" Wheeljack almost yelled in panic. And then seeing the look on Moonracer's face added, "uh, I mean, I'm fine. Really."

Moonracer did not look convinced. She did, however, look self consciously away as the engineer tried to get to his feet with _some_ dignity. He failed.

Ratchet just rolled his optics at the both of them. _"They're worse then younglings." _He grumped, but thankfully kept the thought to himself.

Optimus and the others joined them as Wheeljack finally found his feet again. Of course then he realized he had to get back down to the floor to pick up all the files he had dropped when Moonracer had been flung at him. He vented a frustrated sigh before bending down and gathering up the scattered datapads. He counted them as he stood again, wanting to make sure none had flown under a cabinet somewhere, but unfortunately one of them was missing.

He blinked as the missing file suddenly appeared under his nose.

He slanted an anxious look over at the sea green femme holding it out to him and gave her a quick twitch of his mouth as he took it.

"Thanks Moonracer." He mumbled in embarrassment, not all of it from being pinned to the ground by a femme half his weight.

Moonracer gave him a small, embarrassed smile of her own.

Optimus shot Ratchet a questioning look concerning the two bots, but the older mech just shook his head at him. Apparently Optimus didn't want to know.

The taller bot took Ratchet's word on the matter and politely sidestepped the mech and femme that were suddenly trying their darndest not to look at each other just incase they accidentally met each others' optics again.

"Have you made any progress with the object Ratchet? Do you have any idea what it might be?" Optimus asked instead, getting to the point of this meeting.

Ratchet frowned. That was actually a somewhat tricky question.

"It's hard to be completely sure," the older bot started slowly as he raised a hand thoughtfully to his chin, "but the ingot Moonracer found-"

"Ingot?" Chromia cut the mechasurgeon off. "What the Pit's an ingot?"

Ratchet shot the femme second in command a sharp look where she stood next to her sparkmate. What had they been teaching younglings before the war started when they didn't even know simple words like ingot?

When Chromia only propped a stubborn hand on one hip and stared back at the ornery medic, Ratchet gave another irritated rumble and slid out the viewing tray attached to his microscope with a little more force then necessary. It stopped at the end of its tracks with an angry snap.

A hideous violet glow leapt out of the tray, plainly seen even in the bright light of the medbay. In the tray sat the small rectangle Moonracer had found several orbits before, its shiny surface now clean of grit and grime.

Just seeing it made Elita-One shudder as she took an unconscious step towards her own mate. Somehow the small motion managed to grab every other bot's attention.

"It feels…wrong." She told the group staring at her. 'Wrong' was putting it mildly, she thought. Despite its small size and the distance between she and it, the rectangle gave her the uncomfortable feeling that she was suffocating, trapped under an insurmountable layer of…wrongness. She couldn't think of a word to describe it properly aside from that.

A warm hand wrapped around hers, bringing her back to the present. She looked up into the familiar optics of her sparkmate as he silently asked her if she was alright.

She felt a grim smile try and pull at one corner of her mouth. She would've been lying if she ever said she hadn't missed this, this silent communication that existed only between the two of them or the comfort of his solid presence standing next to her.

She nodded slightly, just enough that he would see.

She saw the same grin she felt pulling at her faceplates echoed in his as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before returning his attention to the matter at hand. Although Elita noticed with relief that he still didn't let go of her hand.

"Anyway-" Ratchet's rough voice cut through Elita's thoughts, bringing everybody present back to the violet glow on the table in front of them, "as I was saying, from what I've been able to study of it, the ingot," he shot Chromia a sharp look, just daring her to interrupt him again, "has a basic structure very similar to energon."

"Except for the humongous holes throughout the molecular chains." Wheeljack muttered as he shuffled his files back into some sort of order, only paying half attention to the discussion at hand.

Thankfully he also missed Ratchet's glare. "Right, except for the missing molecular chains." He added loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"But how's it still resemble energon if it…doesn't?" Moonracer asked blithely, propping her chin on her hands as she rested her elbows on the table to peer into the microscope tray.

Ratchet vented a frustrated sigh. "Are you two even supposed to be here?" He demanded loudly.

Behind him, he heard Chromia vent her own sigh. "We're never going to get through this at this rate," she muttered to Ironhide, who grunted in agreement.

Optimus spoke before Ratchet could whirl around to snap at the pair. "It's fine Ratchet, just please continue. What does this brick have to do with energon?"

Ratchet glared at Ironhide and Chromia for good measure, but went on like Optimus suggested all the same. "This," he said pushing a button on his console, making a holographic image of what looked like a cluster of pool balls and thick straws appear over the table they were standing around, "is the molecular structure for energon. And this," he told them briskly before pressing another button, "is the molecular structure for," he gestured at the ingot still glowing in the tray, "whatever that is."

Three sets of pool balls and the straws connecting them disappeared from the model of energon, leaving large holes in the model's structure.

"Looks like it's about to collapse," Jazz said as he leaned over to peer at Ratchet through one of the holes.

The medic nodded. "Yes, the gaps in the chains not only leave the new substance fairly unstable, it also changes its very nature. Observe," he ordered, pressing yet another button on the table's command board.

The view of the no-longer-energon model drew back as another cluster of straws and balls appeared next to it. As they watched, the two models joined together, like one would expect from interacting molecules.

Across the table, Jazz leaned towards Prowl. "Dude I think I've seen this one before. It's some kinda horror flick." He stage whispered so that everyone could hear him. "This next part's my favorite."

Prowl just rolled his optics and ignored him.

The molecule with the holes suddenly squirmed, rearranging itself, and abruptly swallowed the new molecule model.

"See?" Jazz added. "I told you it was a horror movie."

Prowl didn't even look at him as he leaned forward to inspect the model as it appeared to…digest the new one. "Jazz, shut up."

"What the frag was that?" Moonracer asked loudly, shoving herself away from the tabletop. "Energon's cannibalistic cousin?"

Elita blinked, somewhat shocked, and then turned to share a surprised look with Optimus. How did Moonracer know anything about these molecular models? The femme had just barely been old enough to have an assigned caste when the war had started and, as far as Elita knew, it hadn't been anything in the scientific categories. Maybe she had picked up more from Ratchet and Wheeljack then she let on.

"Pretty much." Wheeljack said, sounding far too chipper about this then Elita liked. "Right now it's absorbing the model of ordinary aluminum Ratchet cooked up for it and if you wait a klik…" he drew the word out as he watched the model. Elita shot a look at her sister to see Chromia had the same uncertain look on her face. What were they waiting for-?

Elita's optics went wide as the hole-filled model suddenly snapped the half absorbed model of aluminum with something almost like…ruthlessness.

The femme commander shook her head, hoping to clear it of impossible ideas like that. Ruthlessness implied a sense of awareness that a molecule just didn't possess. Something like that was _not _self aware.

The molecule went on absorbing the aluminum with the kind of single minded focus you found in drones.

Wheeljack pointed a digit at the models. Well, mod_el_ now.

"-it breaks down the aluminum into its basic atoms and absorbs it into its structure with_out_ growing in any way that Ratchet or I can determine."

"But that's impossible." Came Prowl's ready reply. "You can't just absorb something and not change. The other molecule's mass should be added to it at the very least." He objected.

Ratchet nodded once. "Right."

"But it isn't." Wheeljack told him.

"Sooo…" Jazz said slowly, tilting his head as he tried to make sense of this new impossibility, "it's some kinda mystery then? The case of the missing mass?"

"No," Ratchet said.

Jazz raised an optic ridge at him. "No?"

"Then where'd it go?" Prowl asked, a little louder then usual. This idea that there was a molecule out there that could just break the laws of the universe as easily as it had broken the aluminum model was obviously on his 'things that should not exist' list. Although to be fair it _was_ a rather lengthy list: This ingot. Artifacts of the Primes. The twins. The list went on and on.

Wheeljack held up a digit. He was enjoying this far too much in everybody else's' opinion. "The molecule ate it."

There was a moment of silence. Prowl, Jazz, Optimus, Elita, Chromia, and Moonracer were wondering what this had to do with anything. Ratchet, on the other hand, had decided to just wait and let Wheeljack enjoy his moment. Besides, he'd probably only get cut off again if he tried and open his mouth.

"But we already know that," Moonracer said, her voice confused as she pointed at the now motionless holographic model, "we saw it absorb the other one-"

But Wheeljack was already shaking his head. "Except it didn't just absorb it like other molecules, where one sucks in another and attaches it to itself. This one _ate_ it."

Another, more serious, moment of silence followed his words.

"You mean…" Prowl said slowly, comprehension beginning to dawn.

Wheeljack nodded. "It broke it completely apart and repurposed it for another use, in this case digesting the aluminum and using it as a power source like we use energon. The whole shebang." He said, waving his arms to include the whole model and the substances they symbolized.

"Wait, you mean like that little thing's really _alive?_" Jazz asked, sounding close to Moonracer's anxiety level now.

Wheeljack and Ratchet shared an uncertain look. "Well…" Wheeljack stalled.

"We're still unsure. However we're now considering the possibility." Ratchet told them.

Elita-One felt her horror flash across her face before she got herself under control. She felt the familiar sensation of something sliding down her spinal structure that always came with her premonitions, only it felt colder then her more mundane bursts of insight, like a wordless voice trying to warn her of something…dire.

"What does it do in the presence of real energon?" Optimus asked. Even his deep voice couldn't quite wipe the feeling of danger coming from Elita's core. She barely registered that he spoke even as she held tighter to his hand, optics staring almost unseeing at the violet glow seeping over the lip of the microscope tray.

"Forget energon. What does it do to bots?" Moonracer asked in a soft, scared voice.

Wheeljack and Ratchet looked at each other again, making no one feel any better. Silently, Wheeljack went over to the far counter, the one that held Ratchet's tools.

Ratchet vented a brief sigh as he turned back to his audience. "We…have a demonstration that might be able to answer both of your questions." He told them. For the first time in a long while, Elita noticed an obvious uncertainty in the medic. She felt the coldness thicken where it lingered down her back.

But then the medic pointed a stern digit at each of them, glaring as he looked at the different faces gathered there, seemingly back to normal.

"And no touching, or I'll have you cleaning up after the twins for a stellar cycle." He threatened them in his usual, gruff voice.

Elita managed to drag herself far enough out of her thoughts to notice that Prowl in particular looked a bit alarmed at that.

Wheeljack must have found what he was looking for because he came back and handed Ratchet a scalpel from the counter, although Elita couldn't help but notice the silent 'are you really sure about this?' look the engineer shot his long time friend. The medic's only answer was a reluctant grumble as he snatched the scalpel from Wheeljack.

"Ratchet what are you-?" Optimus started to ask.

Before he could finish, Ratchet took the scalpel and without flinching made a small incision between the plating on his other hand.

Optimus sighed in resignation as the chief medical officer let a few drops of energon fall onto a small dish Wheeljack held out for him.

"Ratchet," Optimus said slowly as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "what have I said about using yourself as a test subject?"

Ratchet held a swab to his cut to stem the flow before looking over at Prime with perfectly neutral optics. "I don't know. What do you keep saying about not asking anything of your bots that you wouldn't do yourself?"

Optimus narrowed his optics at the medic, but after vorns of dealing with the twins (not to mention Jazz and Wheeljack. Oh, and Ironhide…and Val, Fastlane, Cloudraker, sometimes Bumblebee. And Prowl, definitely Prowl, no matter what the SIC thought. And…you know what? Let's just say the list is long and leave it at that.) Ratchet's glare-immunity was stronger then Megatron's armor. Optimus' current glare might as well have been a rubber bullet that bounced off Ratchet with a slightly humorous 'ping!'

Elita vented a sigh. _"This is ridiculous,"_ she thought to herself as she stepped between them. "Enough," she said firmly, first looking at Optimus, then Ratchet, "it's not like he can put the energon _back_ in his hand and you," she said, sharply turning on the medic before he could feel remotely smug, "give me that scalpel. I swear you're worse then Aria at times."

Almost unconsciously, every bot in the room waited to hear the little indignant 'Hey!' from their favorite organic, but she was halfway across the city sleeping, so of course they didn't hear anything.

Elita shook herself slightly and went on. "Now if there will be no more bleeding," she looked pointedly at Ratchet, who _squirmed_ of all things although Wheeljack was the only one who noticed (which made Ratchet feel all _kinds_ of warm fuzzies inside), "then by all means continue your demonstration."

Ratchet's optics were flatter then a tire with a fist sized hole in it. "Gee. Thanks for your permission to conduct my own demonstration Elita."

Elita blinked, only now realizing how she had sounded. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Ironhide's irritated voice beat her to the punch.

"Fer Primus' sake Ratchet get on with it!" He growled before adding in a mutter, "It's too early for this slag…"

Ratchet shot the gruff mech a sharp glare – which Ironhide ignored – before he snapped the slide with the energon drops into the tray with the violet ingot.

The affect was instantaneous. As soon as the energon came into contact with the small, rectangular brick, violet shot through it, quickly overtaking its natural neon green color.

In less then a klik, there was nothing but violet in the microscope tray.

Elita felt faintly sick as she tried to fully comprehend what had just happened. She knew from the lessons all younglings had been required to attend that the only thing energon could transform into was energy, which was why all forms of energy could be transformed into energon with the proper tools. It just wasn't possible to change energon into anything else…was it?

Apparently her teachers had been misinformed.

"By the AllSpark…" Prowl's horrified whisper floated through the stunned silence.

A moment later Moonracer found her voice. "What…just happened?" She looked over at Ratchet with wide optics, making her look more her own age. She did so well at doing her part that sometimes it was easy for Elita to forget that she was the second youngest out of all the Autobot femmes.

"The ingot devoured those molecular chains that are missing in its structure, using them for energy and turning the energon into it." Wheeljack told her, much more somber then before.

"Whatever _it_ is." Prowl mumbled.

"It corrupted the energon." Ratchet clarified, voice hard.

"Thanks Ratch', we hadn't figured that part out yet." Jazz said, a little more snappish then he had meant.

Moonracer slowly looked back at the violet glowing tray. "So…is this the stuff that has the Decepticons acting…crazy?" She asked in a small voice.

Ratchet nodded once, neck jerking sharply. "Definitely."

Jazz shifted his weight to his other foot, propping one fist on his hip. "Then it's mystery solved. Energon's cannibalistic cousin is really dark energon."

All nine of them looked down at the violet glowing ingot. Silence reigned as they all realized how much damage this one cannibalistic substance had done to their war efforts.

"So this is it…" Chromia muttered.

"Dark energon." Optimus rumbled, deep voice relaying all of their concern and revulsion at its twisted tendencies.

Eventually Ratchet cleared his throat, gathering their attention once again. "From what I've seen, this…substance, takes apart certain key structures not only from energon, but also from any living thing it comes in contact with."

"What's it do to them?" Chromia asked as she gave the violet brick a calculating look

Ratchet rumbled darkly in his chest. "In theory, it can do anything from short circuiting logic processors, increase raw physical power, increase paranoia, and possibly even go so far as to erase all higher thought processes altogether."

"So basically everything from stupid to psycho." Jazz summarized.

"Pretty much." Ratchet grunted.

"Great," Ironhide grumbled. "So this is the 'cons' secret weapon; insanity."

There was a moment of silence as the bots processed this, or at least tried to.

"Well what about a cure, or a way to combat it of some kind? Have you found anything like that?" Prowl asked, looking across the table at Ratchet.

The medic raked a hand against the back of his helm. "No, nothing yet. Wheeljack and I are working on some ideas but so far…"

"Everythin's gone boom?" Jazz finished for him.

Wheeljack shot an indignant glare. "Hey! Not _everything_ I touch goes boom!" He snapped.

"Well, close to it." Ironhide put in with a dark laugh.

Wheeljack appreciated that about as much as Jazz's comment. "Well at least I'm trying to _fix _the problem. I'd like to see you come up with something better." He challenged, pointing an incriminating digit at the other mech.

Ironhide scowled at him. "And just who do you think keeps those 'cons out of Iacon in the first place 'Jack? You and your tinker toys?"

"Enough!" Ratchet suddenly shouted, putting himself between the two. "Just because Wheeljack's track record is hit or miss doesn't mean you can try and bully him Ironhide."

"Bully?" Chromia repeated, clearly offended at the mark against her mate.

"Some friend you are Ratchet." Moonracer sounded no less incensed.

"Nice going Ratchet." Jazz muttered.

Both mechs turned on the medic. "Stay outta this Ratchet!" Ironhide yelled just as Wheeljack gave an indignant, "What d'ya mean hit or miss?"

Things just disintegrated from there.

A flash drew Elita's optic from the quickly growing argument. She looked down, optics narrowed as her own anger crept up on her and saw the source of the flicker.

The dark energon ingot sat in its tray, seemingly nothing more then a brick of violet light, but Elita knew better. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself she was only imagining things, she couldn't help but get the unsettling feeling that the ingot was…laughing at them.

She wanted to look away, to get that violet glowing thing out of her sight, but she couldn't. It had her in its grip, forcing her to see the violet colored reflections of her friends and herself as they swam along its shiny surface.

As she watched, their reflections became distorted – discolored – becoming all sharp and angry angles as they snapped at each other. Jazz's usual good-natured grin twisted into a vicious smirk, one that wanted to see you hurting on the floor in front of him. Prowl looked fidgety, like he had more energy then he knew what to do with, the distortions in the ingot's surface making it look like he was talking more then he really was as he waded into the fray of voices.

On the tactician's other side, the violet of the ingot turned Ironhide a sickly sort of red, painting the Autobot insignia on his chest dark purple and twisting his mouth into some kind of gruesome smile. Chromia's reflection was no less distorted, her silver accents turning black as her reflection threw a punch at Ironhide. In reality she was pointing a finger at Ratchet, telling him that if he ever said that about her mate again she'd pound him flat, but in the reflection it looked like she and Ironhide were trying to tear each other apart.

Ratchet's reflection looked nothing short of demonic, red optics taking in the others as if he was planning on just how exactly he was going to take them apart and rearrange them. Next to him it looked like Wheeljack was contemplating the same fate for Ratchet with the kind of animosity Elita expected from feral animals. And Moonracer, well…there was nothing sweet or child-like about the femme's reflection as she stared at the inventor with a different kind of animal ferocity.

Elita couldn't tell which of the last two reflections scared her most; Optimus' or her own. The violet shade had leeched the color out of the Autobot leader, leaving him black and purple, like some sort of demonized shadow of his real self. The ingot had turned his optics red along with everybody else, but there was a mania in them that set Elita on edge. This was _not _the Optimus she knew and cared for.

And then her own reflection…

The femme reflected in the ingot was black and red, with a cyber-cat's grin and hard optics. She was dangerous, terrifying, and more beautiful then Elita thought she had any right to be. She stared back as Elita watched her, a horrifying sense dawning on the pink femme that this wasn't just some reflection in a shiny surface. That this other Elita was somehow _real_. That _she_ herself was somehow the shadow instead…

The more she watched her, the more it felt like Elita was the reflection, one that could be wiped away in a flash of distorted light, never to be seen again because she wasn't real. Just a trick of the lighting…

As she watched, her reflection's mouth slid up at the corner, although Elita was sure her own face was still with horror…

Elita slammed the microscope tray shut with a snap that cut through the tense atmosphere.

The sudden silence was practically a noise in and of itself as the aggravated atmosphere abruptly vanished, leaving the bots feeling somewhat confused about what had just happened.

Elita could still see her reflection's burning red optics staring at her, that cyber-cat's grin making one side of her mouth slide upward even higher, silently laughing at her pink reflection.

The femme commander shivered slightly. Her reflection frightened her, not because she didn't know her, but because, down in some dark corner of her core, Elita knew her very well.

"What…" Jazz said slowly, "the heck was that?"

No one really had an answer, even though they all knew what had caused the break in temper, even if it didn't make any sense.

They all stared down at the safely closed microscope tray. Elita could still feel the ingot's maddening aura, although it was less powerful then it had been seconds ago. As soon as she had closed the tray the irritating feeling that had been bearing down on all of them disappeared, leaving them all feeling somewhat puzzled and slightly ashamed. It was almost like the ingot had been putting out some physical force that had grated against their more good natured tendencies, wearing them down until they were practically different bots altogether. As soon as the ingot had been shut up the feeling had left, leaving them all a bit worn and tired.

Elita tried to tell herself she was just imagining things – that their snappishness was more because of the early hour then the little violet square in the tray – but she had always had good instincts, and ever since her upgrade from Ariel to Elita-One, the accuracy of those feelings had only gotten stronger.

"Ratchet," Elita heard herself say, her soft voice cutting through the stunned silence of the room, "don't uncover that thing again. Not ever. You lock it away and don't ever touch it, you understand? Do _not_._ Touch. It._" She looked over at him, wanting to make this as clear as ice water.

Ratchet, still trying to make sense of what had just happened, managed to nod.

The shivers hovering around Elita's back grew stronger, traveling up to her shoulders and down to her legs, threatening to make them give out from under her.

"Frag," she mumbled as she leaned against the table for support. Immediately two sets of hands appeared on either side of her, supporting her as her legs threatened to fail her.

"Elita-One are you alright?" Moonracer asked worriedly. The concern in the younger femme's voice reassured Elita some. The inverted Moonracer she had seen in the ingot wouldn't sound so worried about her. The reflections had been a trick, nothing but the ingot trying to rob her of her certainty in the bots around her.

She refused to let go of that thought, even though her legs apparently had different ideas. By now Optimus and Moonracer were the only things keeping her off the ground altogether.

"I'm, I'm fine," Elita tried to tell them, but the hesitation in her voice betrayed her. And then she didn't have the energy to reassure them as a violet tinged darkness tried to reach up and swallow her.

She distantly heard Moonracer's cry of surprise as she went lax for a nanoklik. Just as distantly she heard questions being thrown at her – Was she okay? What was wrong? Could she tell how many digits Ratchet was holding up? Etc. – but she was too busy concentrating on telling the darkness where it could shove its annoying threat of unconsciousness to answer them.

Familiar hands fished her out of the darkness. Light reappeared with a vengeance and Elita had to shutter her optics if she didn't want to be temporarily blinded by the medbay lights. The darkness behind her lids was cool and dark and – thankfully – violet free, but she could still recognize the ingot's malignant presence nearby just as she recognized Optimus' arms moving her towards the door. Already the ingot felt farther away. Once they were out of the room she knew she would be out of its reach altogether.

She was dimly aware of snippets of conversation as she staggered out of the room with Optimus' help.

"Get that…lock it up and…" She felt more then heard Optimus' words as he gave Ratchet orders.

"Only lock it up?" Came Moonracer's distant question. Elita had trouble hearing her as the other femme turned back to the others still standing around the table. "…thing needs more of a _containment _field then...or at the very least a lead box…" she heard Moonracer half kid.

There was a half pause as the door started to close behind Elita and Optimus. "Moonracer," Wheeljack's voice was stunned nearly speechless, "you'rea _genius_!"

Then the door slid shut behind them, cutting off the rest of their conversation.

"Elita?" Out here in the silent hall it was easier to make out what Optimus was saying. "Elita what happened? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," _Anymore. _Elita answered, leaving off that last word.

But Optimus wasn't fooled. "You nearly crashed just looking at that thing." He said, level gaze never leaving her.

Maybe it was the relief of getting away from that ingot that was making her heady, but Elita wanted to laugh at him. "So serious," she said, a tiny giggle accidentally slipping past her.

Optimus blinked at her a moment.

"Maybe you should sit down," he suggested slowly.

Elita's strange amusement abruptly ebbed away, leaving an achy vacuum and a processor ache in it's place. Her head felt strangely wobbly and she raised a hand to keep it on her neck as Optimus carefully guided her to a seat next to the wall.

"Are you alr-" he tried to ask.

"Sir!"

Elita practically heard the sharp retort Optimus held back as he turned to see who was calling him. She leaned forward slightly, resting her hands on her knees to keep from toppling over. Around her mate's frame she saw an anxious looking runner, a data pad marked 'urgent' in his hands.

Optimus turned back to Elita, mouth open in a rare show of indecision. Not that she needed it to know just how he felt about leaving her when she had obviously been affected by the strange substance still in Ratchet's lab.

She gave him a gentle shove towards the runner. "Go," she told him, "I'm fine now, really. This pounding in my processor seems to have returned my common sense," she tried to kid and only vaguely succeeded, "I just needed to get away from that…thing." She grimaced slightly as she tried to find a word to describe whatever the ingot really was, and then just as instantly shied away from it.

"Yes, but what happened?" Optimus asked, optics worried. "And why were you the only affected?"

Elita frowned, thinking. "I don't think I was. I was just the only one that noticed."

Optimus' optic ridges drew closer together as he thought about that. He went to say something else, but Elita pointedly looked at the anxious mech standing a polite distance away.

"Deal with him first and I'll try to explain. Although I'm not sure how much I understand about it either." She added somewhat resentfully. She wished she did know more about that violet ingot. Then she could help Ratchet and Wheeljack find more concrete ways on how to counteract it.

She thought for a moment that he would argue, but in the end he didn't. He would go and hear what the message said and then he would deal with whatever new problem was confronting them now, and _then_ he would come back so they could try and sort out the mysteries presented by this ingot and Elita's connection to it. Or rather, her stark aversion.

But not before he leaned down and touched his helm to hers, letting a slight jolt of energy shoot between them in what Aria called the Cybertronian version of a kiss.

Elita felt herself smile as she felt their bond brighten and wrap around her as Optimus sent his love and lent her his strength. She leaned against it with more relief then she had thought she would. That violet demon must have sapped more strength from her then she had thought.

She leaned her head back against the wall and stared with thoughtful optics up at the gray ceiling. Now that she was out of distractions the red eyes of her reflection blinked open in her memory.

She shuddered slightly as their burning gaze fixed on her again. Deep in her core she knew that those reflections hadn't just been the med bay lights playing against the violet gleam of the dark energon. They had been real somehow, in someway she could only just barely comprehend.

She tried not to think about what that meant, however one certainty refused to leave her.

Ratchet had said that the substance that made up the ingot destroyed metal acuity, and Elita _had _detected more then a hint of madness in most of the optics of the reflections. The violet and black Optimus she was sure was far beyond anyone's help in the sanity department as well. However…

Burning red optics flashed open in her mind's eye, as beautiful as they were dangerous. As clear as they were beautiful…

_"Ratchet's wrong,"_ Elita thought in resignation, _"it does destroy pieces of the mind, but it doesn't leave them all mindless drones, just like it doesn't drive them all to insanity. Some bots will keep their wits._

_"Megatron will keep his wits."_

The moment she thought it, a heavy certainty clicked into place in her core. She had struck home, she knew she had. Whatever this stuff was, however the Decepticons were using it…it would not affect Megatron the same as the dark cons they had met so far. It would not strip him of his intellect, no matter what it did to his sanity.

And it wouldn't be long before he tried it on himself either, Elita felt, _if_ he hadn't tried it already.

Because, if she was being honest with herself, Elita knew that they just weren't that lucky.

...

The bots in Ratchet's lab weren't the only ones still awake at this indecent hour. Down the hall, in a little room off of the main medical bay, a human was practically dancing around the countertop.

Well, alright, so he sort of _was_ dancing. With himself. In the middle of the night. Around the counter.

Nathanial quietly laughed at himself as he pulled off a rather impressive slide. He couldn't help it, he was just so…happy. Aria had danced with him. She had been charmed by his attempt at romance. She had shown him something she found special in return.

But they hadn't just danced, they hadn't just had a good time in each other's company.

No, they had kissed. She had…invited him, if you could use that word for kissing. And it had been…well…

It had been pretty darn wonderful.

There hadn't been much more to say after that, although they had talked a little more, about the stars Nathanial thought, but he couldn't remember definitely. And soon after he had walked her home, where they had said good night, and each went off to get their own rest.

Only Nathanial couldn't sleep. He was still too excited to sleep. So he was, well, he was dancing around the counter top where he and Peg were still spending their nights.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Nathanial knew that if Peg had been awake she would have laughed at him. Fortunately she was fast asleep so that was one less humiliation by horse he had to go through today.

The man was just rolling out his sleeping bag when an unbalanced _clang_! suddenly came from the door.

_"Ahh!"_ Peg screamed in reflex, jerking out of her sleep. She looked around wildly, black eyes wide as she snorted and pawed the ground anxiously.

Nathanial froze as Peg's worry ricocheted through him across their tether bond. But he managed to shove it aside as more sounds started to sift through the metal door.

"Ain'. She. Swueet? Ain' she nice? Ain' she made of _– hic! – _sugar an' sp_iiiice! _Er…sumthin' like that aniewaysss…"

Nathanial looked over at Peg in confusion. "Is that-?"

Peg swung her head back towards the door and gave it a solid glare. _"It's the disappearing big foot!" _She spat furiously. _"Why is he yelling while I'm sleeping?"_ She stamped her foot for emphasis, her shoe striking up its own clang against the metal countertop.

Nathanial shot Peg an uncertain look before sliding down his makeshift ladder and going to the door.

Sure enough there was Mirage slumped against the wall on the other side. A very unbalanced, inebriated, Mirage.

The mech looked down, head wobbling on his neck like it was about to fall off. A large, lopsided grin appeared when he saw Nathanial standing below him with his mouth hanging open.

"Mirage?" Nathanial asked. He couldn't think of anything else you could say to an overcharged robot when he showed up at your door just before sunrise.

"Human!" Mirage slurred happily, spreading his arms wide in what Nathanial supposed was a welcoming gesture. "Whu-_hic_- whut are'ya doin' up a'thiss ow-hour?"

Nathanial shot Mirage a disbelieving look. "Was that supposed to be English Mirage or have you been practicing your Claurscan?"

Mirage belted a laugh. Nathanial felt even more uneasy at the very un-Mirage like behavior.

"Just how much have you had tonight Mirage?" He asked, giving the white and blue mech another look over. He looked like he was either going to pass out right then and there or he was just going to fall over in a heap.

Mirage snorted. "Enuff to cum lookin for _you _obv'sly." He laughed again, nearly sliding down the wall.

Nathanial had the good feeling that once he was on the ground Mirage wouldn't be going anywhere for a good long while. "Why don't you come inside?" He suggested, already opening the door again. "That way Ratchet won't dismantle you in the morning when he finds you passed out on the floor of his medbay."

Mirage's only answer was another snerk of laughter as he stumbled into the closet-turned-habitat and practically ran into the side wall with his head.

From the counter, Peg shot her human a flat, angry look. _"Oh yes, _this_ will turn out well."_ She remarked flatly.

_"Well what was I supposed to do Peg? Leave him out there to get creamed by the doc bot?" _He asked her somewhat hotly.

Peg stamped the ground and nodded her head.

Nathanial gave her a flat look of his own. _"He wouldn't have lasted an hour once Ratchet got here."_

Peg snorted, blowing out slight steam clouds in the cold room. _"He would have wandered away somewhere else before the doc bot got here."_ She said, equally stubborn.

A scraping sound brought them out of their argument long enough to see Mirage still had the top of his head leaned against the wall. Nathanial wasn't sure but he _thought_ that the mech was trying to turn around without lifting his head from the wall.

"Ring round rosy, p'ckets fulla possums…" he was singing.

Nathanial obstinately looked back at Peg and pointed at Mirage.

_"I rest my case." _He told Peg with a tired air.

Peg blew out a weary burst of air. _"Alright fine! He can stay." _She conceded. _"But if he wakes me up again I'm going to bite him!"_

Nathanial rolled his eyes and sighed. _"Great, just what I needed. New teeth for my Equine."_

Peg grumbled something in the back of her mind that Nathanial didn't hear but had no doubt involved sentimental humans and annoying big foots. Then she pointedly turned around to give them a nice view of her bony rear before settling in to go back to sleep.

Nathanial sighed in exasperation before turning back to Mirage.

"Y'wanna know sumthin' funny hoo-human?" The mech slurred as he leaned back against the wall, shoulders hanging down limply.

Nathanial held back another sigh as he turned back to the ladder. "Sure, why not?" He said in resignation. All of his previous jubilation had disappeared, leaving him feeling tired and the night feeling too long.

Mirage's frame jumped as he hiccupped again loudly. From the corner of his eye Nathanial saw one of Peg's ears flick back in agitation.

Mirage didn't notice as he continued talking. "Ah used t'hav these _weird_…wha'd you humans call 'em? 'Reams?"

Nathanial finally reached the countertop. "I think you mean 'dreams' Mirage."

The mech's head lolled so he was looking at the human. "Tha's what I said Nat. 'reams."

Nathanial flapped a hand in a half hearted dismissive gesture. "Sure, close enough." He said tiredly.

"Aneeways…" Mirage went on, one hand flailing loosely, as if his joints had all turned to water, "I used t'have these 'reams about bein'," he gave a half-meant laugh, "bein' a _'Con_ of all thins."

Nathanial felt his eyebrows crease together. "But I thought you lot didn't dream?" He asked, hoping he was wrong.

"Right!" Mirage all but shouted, his arms jerking in what might have been an 'ah-ha!' gesture. "If we do remember anythin' in recharge itss stuffs that've happ'ned to us before."

Nathanial couldn't help but feel a bit horrified.

Mirage gave a weak laugh. "Yasee my problem Nat-man. I's a very curious pree-dic-amnt." He hiccupped again.

Nathanial still didn't say anything. It was a terrifying idea, that Mirage was a double agent – but somehow Nathanial just couldn't believe it was even possible, excluding more extreme measures like mind control and cerebral interference.

"In one of those dreams," Mirage went on, not noticing Nathanial's sudden stiffness, "I killed Hound."

Nathanial distantly wondered if Mirage was just as disturbed by this idea as he was. From the confused look on his faceplates, Nathanial thought he was and then some.

Mirage looked at his hands through the haze in his processor. "Hound's wunna my best frien's around. Why would ah do tha' to him?" He asked, the sound of distant horror coming through his voice.

Nathanial's incredulity increased. He had seen Hound just a few hours ago so obviously this 'dream' hadn't happened.

"Maybe you guys are closer to dreaming then you thought." Nathanial suggested half heartedly. But right now he wanted nothing more then for this conversation to be over.

"Maybe," Mirage admitted, and then gave an unexpected laugh, however bitter it was, "or maybe W'jack's theory about inter-dimensional windows actually has some merit huh?"

Nathanial tried to laugh the idea into existence. "Maybe," he repeated before stubbornly putting the past five minutes out of his head. "No how about you stop talking stupid and get out of here before you start incriminating yourself in things that aren't ever going to happen." He told him, not unkindly as he jerked a chin at the half open door behind him.

But his words just went in one audio and out the other. "Ah couldn' do that ta Hound. 'Specially not Hound." Mirage muttered as he stared off into space. "Ah mean, ah'm here for a reason aftterall…"

"And what reason would that be?" Nathanial asked as he went back to straightening out his bedroll, only half listening now.

Mirage's words were simple. "'Cuz she's not."

It was probably the most understandable thing he'd said all night. And Nathanial really wished he hadn't said it.

_"He's going to kick himself when he can think straight."_ Nathanial thought, but there wasn't much he could do now except listen.

Mirage's feeble balance finally failed him altogether and he slid down to the floor with a slight screech. Sitting down, his head was about level with the countertop Nathanial was standing on.

"D'ya know why ah'm here human? As a'bot I mean." The mech asked a moment later, his words for the most part steady.

Nathanial let go of a resigned sigh and sat down on the table top, letting his legs hang over the edge. "No, but I have the funny feeling you're going to tell me."

Mirage huffed a small laugh.

"So," Nathanial said when Mirage didn't lose that distant look in his optics, "what was her name?"

Mirage jerked out of his reverie. "Siraniva," he said, "but to you it's probably Snowdrop or something equally as ridiculous." He added quickly.

Nathanial nodded. "I take it this was back before the war started?" He asked.

Mirage nodded. "Yes," he said, his normal language slipping back into place, "our bonding was arranged of course – our cultures have that much in common it seems – and I had always know that would happen when Mother and Father finally found a connection they liked, but, I don't know, Siri was-" he shrugged, not able to find a word that even began to describe what Siri had been.

So he moved on. "She just had faith in _everyone, _like she could see the good in you no matter what. I don't even know how she managed that." Mirage said, glancing at Nathanial. Nathanial just nodded, giving Mirage space to talk. "Even me." Mirage sounded surprised. "And back then I was just a selfish…what do you humans call it? A selfish asterisk?"

Nathanial snorted a laugh and didn't bother correcting him. "You're still a selfish asterisk." He said instead.

Mirage waved a dismissive hand at the human. "Well like I said, it was a gift she had. It always made her so angry the state Cyberton was in before the war. She just didn't understand why some bots were arbitrarily chosen to work in smelters or mines when others were just as arbitrarily chosen to be council members."

"An understanding you tried to give her I suppose?" Nathanial asked with a grin that was more haunted then humorous.

Mirage stared off into space again. "Not my most shining moment, I know, but that's how the world was. I thought it stood as much a chance of changing as…as you have of waking up tomorrow as a femme."

Nathanial shuddered and made a face.

Mirage pointed to the space next to Nathanial, but the human took it to mean he was being pointed at instead. "Exactly." He said. "It just wasn't going to happen."

"But…" Nathanial prompted, remembering the ruined world he saw out the window almost every orbit.

Mirage vented a solemn sigh. "But of course then these bots calling themselves the Decepticons showed up."

Nathanial frowned as a thought hit him. "What about the Autobots?" He asked.

But Mirage waved away the word. "This early there weren't any Autobots. The Decepticons were only talking at this point – equality for all bots, choosing your own destiny and things like that. No bot was shooting anyone else yet." He said bitterly. "Siri was all for it. They were only voicing what she had been complaining to me about the last few stellar cycles after all."

"What about you?" Nathanial asked curiously. "What did you think?"

"Oh I was less then certain about all of it." Mirage said immediately. "We were what they were railing against after all. Or at least our society was a good sized part of it. But somehow Siri didn't see it that way."

An infinitesimal smile appeared on Mirage's face, making Nathanial feel self conscious about even listening to this.

"Primus," Mirage whispered in a sad state of awe, "she was so…"

"She was beautiful then?" Nathanial said, trying to lighten the mood at least a little.

Mirage shot a drunken glare at him, clearly offended. "Of course she's beautiful!" He snapped.

Nathanial went still, half hoping Mirage didn't recognize his mistake.

But unfortunately he did.

He let his gaze drift back to the distant middle ground, turning away from his human companion. "Primus," he whispered again, "she _was_ beautiful."

Silence fell between them again.

After a moment Nathanial screwed up his courage. "So what happened to her?" He asked, voice barely above a whisper out of respect for Mirage's loss.

If Mirage had been human he would have swallowed at the question, but he wasn't, so he remained still.

"I had to visit the family lawyer in Iacon to discuss something to do with the estate laws," he said slowly, his voice low and gaze faraway, seeing something that was no longer there, "by that time some of Megatron's more zealous followers had turned from protesting to rioting and murder. I wanted her to come with me. We could stay in Iacon until the matter had died down. I knew of some friends that would be happy for our company and the symphony season had just started. She loved the symphony." He said.

Nathanial waited.

"But she refused." Mirage spoke again. He still sounded slightly confused by her answer. "I didn't know why at the time, but she said she had some business of her own to check on and that she would tell me all about it when I got back. She was so excited about it that I thought – well, we had been trying to, to have a family and, well…" he didn't say any more on the matter.

Nathanial just looked down at his hands where they gripped the countertop beneath him.

"So I left," Mirage said quickly, "and I finished my business with the lawyer as quick as I could. News about the new Decepticon's activities was only getting worse and I had this horrible feeling in my spark. Like I was being surrounded and didn't even know it. I think you humans say like a noose tightening around your neck."

Nathanial nodded. He had become fairly familiar with that one with the Calvary.

"I hurried home, trying to tell myself that I was only imagining things. I was being paranoid. I was half believing it by the time I got back and saw-saw her-" he stopped speaking.

Nathanial didn't speak. He knew that horrified look in Mirage's optics. He had seen it more then once on the faces of those he had served with after they had stumbled upon a particularly gruesome sight left behind by the shades that plagued Atala's surface. He was sure he had that look on his own face at times as well.

"I found her," Mirage went on after a long, unbearable, stretch of silence, "in the remains of the main house. The fire had burnt down to embers, but it was still hot enough to burn in places. I couldn't recognize most of the bodies, they were so disfigured, but mercifully, somehow, she was still…she still looked like herself. There," he huffed a pitiful sound that might have been a disbelieving laugh, "there wasn't even a scratch on her iridescent paint." He mumbled, covering his optics with one hand.

Nathanial looked away, giving him a relative moment of privacy.

It was quiet again for a long, long time.

"Do you know that saying Nathanial?" Mirage finally asked into the silence.

Nathanial looked up to see that Mirage's optics were still covered but two vertical tracks had been cut through the battlefield grime that covered his face. "What saying?" He asked, voice somewhat hoarse and uneasy.

"About the dead. That it only looks like they're sleeping."

Nathanial nodded once. He knew that one too.

"Well it's a lie."

Silence.

"It's a Primus forsaken _lie!_" He spat.

Nathanial just nodded. He knew that part too.

"I don't know how long I sat there with her." Mirage went on, surprising Nat somewhat. He had thought the story was over. "But most of the embers had cooled I think by the time Jazz found me. He and the handful of early Autobots he was with brought me back to Iacon and fixed the minor damage I had received from the remains of the fire.

"He didn't tell me until I was out of the med bay, but he had asked around while I was…out of it, and he had found out," he hesitated, "he had found out that the Decepticon attack had not been a random act of violence."

Nathanial felt his eyebrows crease together. He opened his mouth to ask how that was possible, but the dull look in Mirage's optics stopped him.

"She _invited _them." He said through gritted teeth. "I don't know what possessed-" he forced himself to stop, one hand flying up in a useless gesture, before he began to rant and rave. When he spoke again it was with a great amount of forced self-control. "She invited a group of 'cons over to _talk_. I don't know for sure but given her views on the whole affair I'd say she was going to give them her _support_."

"And they killed her for it." Nathanial supplied when Mirage just stared off into the distance, optics hard.

He gave a tight nod. "And they killed her for it." He repeated.

Nathanial hissed thought his teeth slightly as he rubbed at the back of his neck, but he didn't say anything. There wasn't anything you could say to that. And privately he didn't think your should try to either. It wasn't like 'my condolences' would make anything better. Really, it'd just make things worse.

But even knowing that he couldn't keep from mumbling a solemn, "I'm sorry Mirage."

Mirage just nodded before shuttering his optics and leaning his head back against the wall behind him.

Enough time passed in silence that Nathanial was beginning to think that Mirage had sunk into recharge. He was hardly surprised. With the amount of high grade he'd had, Nathanial thought it was almost miraculous that he'd stayed awake for the whole sorry story.

But then Mirage leaned his head back against the wall with a clang and stared somewhat listlessly up at the ceiling. Apparently he'd sunk into memories rather then sleep.

Somehow Nathanial didn't think this reverie Mirage was trapped in was helping matters. "So I take it you knew Jazz from before the war?" He asked, not so subtly diverting Mirage's train of thought.

Mirage looked over at the human sitting on the counter with some confusion, as if he had forgotten where he was.

Nathanial saw that that mech's optics were boiling red near the bottom, creating an unnerving violet affect near the pupil. He felt himself stiffen at the strange color, for one nanoklik afraid that Mirage was so deep in an overcharged stupor that he thought whatever he was remembering was real.

But he needn't have worried. After a second of confused staring, Mirage's optics returned to their more normal blue color, although Nathanial noticed there was still a touch of indigo in them.

"Yes," Mirage said stoically, "Siri and I knew him and Flare before the war. The femmes were fast friends and he and I, well, we tolerated and annoyed each other in a friendly fashion."

"Flare?" Nathanial asked.

Emotion quirked near the corner of Mirage's mouth plates. "She taught younglings," he said and then added almost like an afterthought, "and she was Jazz's 'sort of' girlfriend."

Nathanial coughed in surprise. "Flare? As in Flare_up?"_ He demanded, shocked.

Mirage slanted him a peculiar look. "Primus no. Flare _Star_. Flare was a fairly popular name for femmes of that generation." He explained.

"Ah," Nathanial said as he tried to remember if he had heard that name somewhere before. "Is she-?" He started to say before Mirage cut him off.

"She joined Siri ages ago. He doesn't like to talk about it."

Nathanial nodded. "Obviously." He muttered – who would? – before realizing something else.

"Wait, what's a 'sort of' girlfriend?"

Mirage looked over at the human, realizing he had stumbled upon a difference in the two humans' cultures. "I think Aria called it 'friends with benefits'."

"Oh?" Nathanial said a split second before realization struck. "Oh…"

Mirage nodded slowly, the ghost of a grin appearing on his face.. "Yep, you've got it. Although as repressed as you are I'll admit I'm surprised you understand even _that_ much."

Nathanial narrowed his eyes at the mech and threw a button at him that had fallen off his uniform earlier. It hit Mirage's arm with a small _'plink!' _sound before clattering to the floor.

"Sleep it off Mirage or I'll wake Peg up and told her it was your fault. If you think you have a processor ache _now_…" he threatened.

But it was already a moot point. By the time the button stopped spinning in circles on the floor, recharge had sucked Mirage under, his systems not able to function properly any longer after all that high grade.

Nathanial shook his head when he saw that Mirage had finally crashed against the wall. As quietly as he could, he settled down into his bed roll, not that he'd get much sleep. His internal clock was saying that the sun would be coming up in another joor or so.

He lay there quietly for some time, staring up at the matte gray ceiling. He started wondering how ironic it was – he hadn't been able to sleep earlier because he'd been so happy to have kissed Aria. Now he couldn't sleep because he wondered how it would eventually end between them. Like Mirage and Siri? Or more quietly, like any number of sweethearts and lovers that found they just didn't fit together?

And what about the Ground Bridge? Supposing they didn't end. Supposing they stayed together and were genuinely, remarkably happy? Would she want to return with him to Atala? To his family – however broken – and his friends and life?

Or could he really stay here? Live among the bots on Cyberton? With Aria?

Staring at the ceiling, Nathanial couldn't find an answer.

A sleepy whuffle drifted out of the darkness of his tether bond.

_"Stop getting ahead of yourself." _Peg sleepily ordered him. _"You haven't even taken her to dinner yet. Sheesh, one little kiss and he already thinks he's her stallion. Humans…"_ Peg trailed off, grumbling even as she fell back asleep.

Nathanial felt himself smile. _"Goodnight Peg." _He murmured to her.

In the dark next to him, Peg rumbled. _"Goodnight Nat." _She yawned. _"Goodnight Big Foot."_

Nathanial finally felt her drift off for good. Around him echoed the muffled silence of the sleeping city and, gradually, he felt himself edge closer to real sleep.

_"Goodnight Aria..." _he whispered before, finally, dropping off to sleep.


	21. Chapter 21: Con't Antics of Screwballs

Alright, so here I am again, on time. And with potato chips! Yay! Xp

Ahem. So anyway, thanks of course go to my wonderful reviewers (whom I actaully replied to this time! ALL OF THEM! Whoa! The world must be_ ENDIIIIINNNG! xp) _Thanks go to my sis, Mercedes Wolfcry, Autobot-Bre, Mikaela the Cat, Birgitte LP, Vivian Hale, Kir, TheDarkTulip, and Beowulf828 for their kind words and encouragements. ::thankful hearts!::

Oh! And all of you get mucho bonus points because this story has now attracked 185 reviews even and over 10,000 hits! :O That hit record has most definitely surpassed my meager dreaming. Excited writer's squee! XD Yay!

Now let's see, I don't think I have much to say, only that, as some of you may have noticed in the last chapter, the creepy reflections of the bots in the dark energon were a reference to their Shattered Glass selves! XP hee hee, I thought that was fun, other dimensions bleeding into each other. Hopefully most of you caught that as well. Of course if you did, then this explanation is rendered moot...

Oh well. Hope you enjoy this next chapter! Which I finished at 2 am! ;) And people say drinking diet coke at nine at night doesn't have any side affects. X3 Oh? They don't say that? Well then...enjoy anyway!

...

The Long Road Home

21 – The Continuing Antics of Screwballs – 21

The next morning saw Nathanial and Peg in the main room of the Hall of Records, hovering halfway between floor and ceiling.

_"Alright Peg," _Nathanial thought as he tightened his grip on the reigns and corrected his balance in the saddle. Now was no time for falling off. _"You ready to give this another go?"_

Peg neighed fiercely and tossed her head up and down. _"Let's go already human!"_ She called out, her version of a, "Slag yeah!"

Nathanial's mouth stretched upward in a tight lipped smile. Muscles tensed as he gave the final command-

_"HA Peg!"_ He called as he gave her the more mundane signal with his heels.

Like a bullet from a barrel, Peg shot away, wings pumping powerfully for a few strokes before their momentum was enough to carry them through the air. Almost instinctively, Nathanial guided Peg around the obstacle course he had set up with Hound's help.

Their surroundings passed by in flashes as Nathanial sent Peg commands faster then he could finish thinking them and she obeyed almost like she had thought them for herself. From the ground they were nothing but a dark gray blur as Peg's wide, leathery wings cut through the air like an overly large hummingbird.

A chair, a stylus stand, and the underside of a desk swum by before Nathanial could fully focus on them. Not that he needed too. He had been doing this since he was fifteen after all. It was easier then breathing to note their surroundings before letting the information slide away so that where they were now could take its place.

The sound of his pulse was deafening in Nathanial's ears, echoed by his tense breathing as he gave Peg commands with his legs like any other rider while at the same time giving her more details through their tether bond. Peg responded immediately to his thoughts, tossing and throwing her head forward with every wing beat.

A target, already covered in blackened score marks, flashed into Nathanial's field of vision and he acted almost without conscious thought, embedding a silver dagger in the target's boundaries. He heard it land with a solid _thunk_, but didn't see anything more as he and Peg flashed on through the course.

He finished the first lap with his throwing daggers. Even though he was an Equine Rider, and had all the amazing abilities that afforded him at his disposal, they were still his weapon of choice. The daggers were small, easily hidden in objects and on his person, and the small blades didn't lose their sharpness when the power shorted out.

But even though he always had two or three of the small weapons on him at all times, he still couldn't help but grin as he brought out his flash gun, probably the single strangest weapon the cavalry favored.

_"Alright Peggy Sue,"_ Nathanial thought as they came out from their first lap through the course without mishap, _"let's make this more interesting."_

Peg tossed her head eagerly as she stiffened her wings at an angle and circled around in one large, smooth swoop.

Nathanial let himself relax for that brief moment as they circled around to the front of the course again. Compared to the mad, breakneck speed they had shot through the maze with, the wind now was calm as it flew past his face, its noise practically a whisper rushing past his ears.

This had always been his favorite part of flying. This freedom. Of leaving all your baggage on the ground, forgetting about it for at least a little while because it wouldn't help you up here. It felt like nothing else existed but him and Peg.

But it was only a brief interlude and he made sure to concentrate on their practice run again as Peg came out of her gentle turn.

Nathanial tightened his grip on the flash gun as Peg started building up speed again. Constructed by the same minds that had studied the technology Nexus Prime had left them before disappearing off into parts unknown, flash guns were favored by Equine Riders because they were light, easy to hold with one hand so you didn't have to let go of your mount and risk falling off, and they needed to be reloaded rarely which meant you didn't have all that spare ammo weighing you down when you were trying to fly. They were also one of the few weapons that the dust devils feared.

The opening to their makeshift practice course loomed ahead of them, filling Nathanial's vision as Peg barreled toward it. He exhaled to steady himself as the walls made of outdated codex books seemed to stay directly ahead of them, but of course they sped through the gateway between them instead.

He heard Peg snicker at him through their tether.

He ignored her and focused instead on the first target coming up. His dagger still had half the blade buried in the bundled up paper Prowl had reluctantly let him use. Flash guns weren't exactly precision weapons so Nathanial didn't need as much time to aim as he had needed with the daggers. Now he focused most of his attention on keeping his balance even as he held the gun away from both his body and Peg's and fired at the stationary target.

There was the familiar spark, flare, _THWOOM! _as lightening igniting in the flash gun's concealed circuitry and, fast as, er…itself, collected in the main glass chamber before traveling down the pathways laid out for it and leaping out to close the distance between Nathanial and the target. Like two ends of a magnet, the miniature lightening strike automatically went for the metal dagger buried in the target before it was released to the rest of the material surrounding it.

Nathanial didn't have time to look back, but he could feel the sudden heat as the paper target abruptly caught fire with a sharp crack, but a crooked smile appeared on his face anyway.

Peg sorted at him. _"Secret pyromaniac." _She jibed.

Nathanial's smile didn't shrink any. _"It's a poorly kept secret then."_

They took the next turn a little too fast, nearly running into the wall of the desk, but Peg gave a powerful stroke downward, turning herself horizontal and running along the wall before she managed to correct their course.

Peg tossed her head and let out an excited horse-scream.

Nathanial wasn't as pleased. Actually he felt a little like his stomach was trying to crawl out his throat.

_"Peg! What have I said about sideways?"_ He shouted at her as he fired off another shot at the up coming target. Even the lightning's attraction to metal didn't keep his shot from just barely clipping the side of the paper target, making it smolder more then burst into flames.

Peg just gave him another horsy laugh and threw herself into the next part of their practice.

Nathanial shoved down his irritation and his unsettled stomach when he realized Peg wasn't about to feel sorry for her fun. He didn't need any distractions as Peg started activating her transwarp programming, unless he wanted to end up getting swallowed by all the different conflicting energies and never be seen again. That would make for an especially rotten day since he and Aria had another date tonight.

Nathanial leaned low over Peg's neck, the short bristles of her mane poking his unprotected face as he did his best to flatten out and give the charged winds of the transwarp portal a smaller target.

They were through in an instant, Nathanial tapping into Peg's faster sensors to process the more mundane things like where they were in the course as he locked on to the closest target with his eyes and fired without a second thought. The electric bolt barely cleared the flash gun before the two were diving through another portal. Nathanial flattened himself against Peg again as mass amounts of information from the sensors in her mane was dumped into both their minds, Nathanial relying on Peg to process the data and Peg relying on him to tell her what it all actually meant in the grander scheme of what they were doing.

They came out the other side of the transwarp jump and Nathanial saw the target briefly before firing reflexively. Then they just repeated the process. Flatten out. Jump. Fire. Flatten out. Jump. Fire. Hop scotching to different parts of the practice course at random to create the closest simulation to battle they had available. Well, without stepping outside at any rate. This was supposed to be a _simulation_ after all.

_ "Thirteen." _Nathanial counted as he leaned over Peg's neck again, feeling the static rush as they stepped through another portal and came out halfway across the course. _"Fourteen." _He thought as another bolt left the flash gun's mouth and they jumped. _"And that makes fifteen."_

Peg slowed just enough that Nathanial saw the last target burst into red orange flames before they jumped through the last portal and rematerialized in the clear air outside of their practice course.

Nathanial straightened up, breathing hard, feeling Peg's sides rapidly going in and out as she did too. They circled around, allowing their gathered momentum to bleed off as they glided over the top of the course, avoiding the slight smoke as the targets finished burning down to nothing.

"So," Nathanial said before taking another deep breath as his heart rate settled, "what's that look like to you? Thirteen out of fifteen?"

Peg shook her head as she swung around towards her regular take off/landing desk. _"Yes, but you clipped that one near the exit. Not a solid hit so-"_

Nathanial rolled his eyes. "Yes, alright so it's twelve and a half instead. I know the rules Peg." He told her somewhat snappishly.

Peg rumbled in her chest. _"Just reminding you."_ She told him as they glided calmly, the wind noise lessening in their ears.

Nathanial frowned as their altitude began to shrink. "Twelve and a half out of fifteen though. Not the best we've ever done." He pointed out with a slight grimace. "We could definitely do better."

Peg's ears swiveled around towards him indignantly. _"Excuse me? We? What is this 'we' business? My jumps were beautiful!"_ She told him defiantly. But then she settled a little. _"Well, all of them except for that one next to the quill stand. That one was messy."_ She admitted sullenly.

Nathanial reached forward and patted her neck, knowing how hard it was for Peg to admit something like that. "True, but you're right. The rest were spot on. The 'we' is downsized to an 'I'."

Peg rumbled a bit more happily, but then perked up right away when she caught sight of someone standing on her landing desk.

_"Oh good! Aria's here already."_ She said with a delighted whicker.

Nathanial looked over Peg's side to see that Aria was standing on the desk, waving up at them. He smiled and waved back with one hand, putting his score out of his head before guiding Peg in another quick loop before heading toward the desk.

Peg snorted and gave another quick flap to lightly jolt the man sitting on her back.

_"Show off."_ She said, turning her head to look at him with one round eye.

_"Like you're one to talk."_ Nathanial said, slanting her a quick look before they skimmed over the desktop, wings flapping shallowly as Peg strove for balance. Peg's sharp hooves hit the surface at a gallop as she smoothly transformed, her wings settling into their usual places along the sides of her narrow body. They slowed to a canter and then a trot before finally walking over to the water bucket where Nathanial had left Peg's brushes and halter.

Peg shook her head with a sigh, the motion traveling down her body before flicking out the end of her tail. Nathanial swung himself off of her back and gave her a reassuring pat on her shoulder before undoing the girth and heaving the lightweight battle saddle off of her back.

Peg lowered her head and sighed in relief as cool air hit her sweaty back. _"That's much better."_ She told Nathanial as he put a saddle pad on her back instead before walking over to her head with her rope halter. After another minute her bit and bridle were on the ground with the saddle.

Peg was stretching her jaw, trying to get rid of the phantom bit feeling still in her mouth, when Aria finally reached them.

"Now _that_," she said with a bright smile, "was impressive."

Peg wasn't too tired to lift her head and say, _"About time you noticed."_

"Peg," Nathanial admonished half heartedly, but Aria just laughed quietly and rubbed at Peg's forehead where the bridle strap had been.

Peg sighed in relief as Nathanial picked up the lead attached to Peg's halter. She didn't even try and argue when they started walking around the edge of the desk to cool down.

"So when did you get here?" Nathanial asked Aria over Peg's shoulder as they walked. "And why are you on that side instead of over here with me?" He asked with a slightly crooked grin.

Aria smiled back at him cheekily. "Oh," she said with a sly smile, "no reason. And about five minutes ago. Just in time to see you pull out the lightning bolts. What _is_ that anyway?" She asked, jerking her chin over at the flash gun that Nathanial had left with Peg's saddle.

"A flash gun." Nathanial told her simply.

Aria looked over at it again. "But it shoots lightning yeah? Man you guys have all the good stuff." She told him, sounding slightly envious.

Nathanial shrugged one shoulder. "Don't be too impressed. Like many, _many_ things on Atala, the technology was left to us by Nexus Prime. So we didn't actually discover it the hard way."

"It's still pretty cool." Aria said with a shrug of her own. "Even if it _does_ look like a child's overgrown toy."

Nathanial smiled as he looked at the gun behind them. It was all twists and loops of metal wrapped in a special non conductive material that wouldn't melt whenever the gun was fired. At its center was a globe about the size of softball, made out of glass that had been specially tempered to withstand the fierce winds and drastic atmospheric changes that came with flying Equines. Even across the desk Nathanial could still see a few bright yellow sparks that had been trapped in the globe after he last fired it.

He grinned at Aria again. "Yeah it does look pretty funny." He admitted. "But it packs a pretty powerful punch."

Aria looked over at where the smoke was still lingering over the obstacle course. "I noticed." She said, turning back to him with a wide smile.

Nathanial forgot how to walk with the force of that smile. For a second it was all he could do to remember how to breathe as the unassuming beauty of the girl next to him overwhelmed him.

Peg snorted somewhat amused at him and then oh so gracefully bumped him with her shoulder.

_"Hopeless." _She muttered as she slowly started walking again.

Aria and Nathanial glanced at each other over her back and blushed. They had both heard her.

Nathanial cleared his throat as they started their second lap. "So, er…speaking of funny looking weapons," he stumbled for a new subject as he readjusted his hold on Peg's lead, "Hound tells me that you actually used to use that grapple-lasso thing out on the battlefield, and with some success." He added, letting his surprise show. "I mean, I thought it was mad when you were only jumping out of the ceiling," he told her with a somewhat forced chuckle.

Aria shrugged but Nathanial noticed that her smile had wilted around the corners of her mouth. "It was what I knew how to use." Aria told him. "And after Prowl taught me their pressure points and because it took Wheeljack some time to figure out how to shrink one of their guns down to the size I could use without losing so much power that it would only tickle a Decepticon…it just sorta made sense."

"So why'd you stop fighting with them?" Nathanial asked innocently enough. "Did you finally realize you were fighting something that could just as easily squish you by accident as on purpose?" He asked, teasing her.

But his smile disappeared when he saw Aria staring at the floor, one hand resting limply on Peg's shoulder.

"Aria?" Nathanial asked worriedly, stopping Peg and coming around to her other side to stand in front of the other human. "Aria, are you alright?" He asked her softly, reaching up and, hesitantly, touched her cheek.

Aria seemed to shake herself when he did, making him draw back uncertainly. She looked up at him, a small smile on her face, but he didn't miss the guilt in her eyes or the hasty way she cleared her throat before she said anything, as if it had been too tight for a moment.

"It's uh…it's not exactly something I like to talk about." She told him quickly, not quite making eye contact. "Let's just say that, like everybody else here, I remember things that I…sorta wish I didn't."

She gave a half hearted kind of nod and looking away, rubbing her arms as if she was cold. She tried to smile at him, and failed.

"So…yeah." She mumbled like she was hoping Nathanial would just forget this whole conversation had happened and they could go on with their day without further incident.

Except he didn't. Actually, he stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, as if he understood what she meant without hearing the whole sad story.

Aria stared in surprise at his shoulder for a second, caught off guard by the sudden sympathy. Or maybe- it was more empathy? Nathanial acted so…normal most of the time that sometimes it was hard for Aria to remember that he had fought for most of his life too. Which probably meant he had his own fair share of regrets and sad stories to go along with it. Just like her.

Aria wriggled her arms free and wrapped them around Nathanial's neck, soaking up the comfort he offered.

They stood there for a long moment before pulling apart. Aria sniffed loudly and wiped the corners of her eyes, not bothering to try and hide the fact. But when she gave him another small smile it wasn't forced like before.

Nathanial kept a hold on her hand just in case as they walked over to where Peg's saddle sat at the other end of the desk.

It turned out that wasn't the only thing that was waiting for them at the other end of the desk. Elita-One was standing there, watching them with interest and not bothering to pretend that she wasn't. Nathanial felt his face start to burn as he realized that the femme was looking between Aria, him, and their clasped hands. He also had the sneaking suspicion that that probably hadn't been all she'd seen.

"Hey Elita," Aria said as they reached the end of the desk where she was waiting. Aria gave Nathanial's hand a quick squeeze to let him no she was okay before she let go and walked up to her friend. Nathanial hung back, stroking Peg's nose as he surreptitiously tried to look over at the femme only to find her staring back. Her bright gaze was cool, telling him nothing definite about what she was thinking. But he couldn't help but get the feeling that she was sizing him up.

He also couldn't help but get the feeling that if she saw something she didn't like, she'd be more dangerous to his health and sanity then all of Aria's brothers put together.

He swallowed hard and tried not to look like he'd enjoyed annoying his mother and elder brothers as a small child. It wasn't like she'd approve of someone that might pass on his general annoying-ness to any kids they might have and-

And sweet Well of AllSparks he should _not_ have thought that when he was trying to look charming and above any suspicion the femme commander might have about him.

Elita raised one optic ridge at him, probably because Nathanial's face looked like it was about to burst into flames. He coughed and hoped that she never found out why as he turned back towards Peg and led her over to the water bucket.

Peg had noticed the strange staring contest between her human and the new boss mare, but she didn't pay them any other attention aside from an ear flicked in their direction. In her head Peg knew that this bright pink femme wasn't _her_ boss mare, so she didn't technically have to pay her any sort of mind, but instinctually she couldn't help it. It was never a good idea to cross or ignore the female in charge of the herd, especially when she owed you nothing. Peg had no desire to be tossed out on her tail thank you so much. _Especially_ on account of her human being sweet on the boss's sister.

But then the boss femme made a noncommittal, "Hm," in the back of her vocal processor and turned her attention to Aria. Peg just flicked her ear and buried her nose and mouth in the watering bucket, determined to not pay anymore attention to the strange courting rituals of humans for the rest of the day. Unless they got _really _good.

Nathanial just patted Peg's neck as she drank. Peg thought he was still in shock.

"So what're you up to Elita?" Aria asked, breaking into the tense silence that had appeared as soon as Nathanial had realized the femme had been staring at him.

Elita smiled at her small friend as if she hadn't just been sizing up her love interest. "I could ask you the same thing Aria." She said with a meaningful glance over at Nathanial where he was staring off into the middle ground next to Peg.

Aria coughed, surprised by Elita's teasing. "Nuh-nuh-nothing. Why do you ask? I just came by to watch Nat practice for awhile."

Elita gave her a knowing look, as if she knew _exactly _what had gone through Aria's head when she'd gotten down here.

Aria's face turned pink just under her eyes and she bashfully scuffed a foot against the desktop. "Well, that's all I had time to do with him anyway before you got down here…" she trailed off looking everywhere but at Elita, but that didn't keep Elita from keeping her own level stare pinned to her friend.

"Uh-huh, that's what I thought." She said, eyeing Aria one more time before giving her a small, playful grin. "If you've got it this bad then maybe it's a good thing Val sent me looking for you."

Aria immediately sighed. "Val huh? How does he even know I'm down here at all?" She demanded, propping both hands on her hips and glaring lightly at her brother, even if he wasn't there.

Elita laughed lightly at her. "He asked me to tell you that Prowl has asked to see you. Ultra Magnus asked to see him though, which is why Val didn't deliver this message to you himself." She explained.

Aria frowned, somewhat appeased. "Oh. Well that actually sounds legit then. Did Prowl say what he actually wanted to talk about in this elongated game of telephone?" She asked, looking up at Elita.

The femme shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. Just that Prowl wanted to talk with you. But this is Prowl after all. He doesn't like to waste time."

"More like he has a conniption fit if he even _thinks _about it." Aria grumbled, then sighed, raking a hand through her hair. "Alright," she groaned, "I'll go see what the stickler wants. Just uh," she shot a nervous glance at Nathanial where he was taking a curry brush to the sweat and dirt that had dried in Peg's short black hair.

She leaned in closer to Elita and lowered her voice. Elita crouched down so her head was on level with Aria's small frame so she could hear her.

"Just don't be too hard on him okay? Val and 'Bee are already going crazy on me and I'm not sure if he can deal with them much longer without someone going nuts, and to be honest, I think it's gonna be _me_." She poked herself in the chest, already looking a bit frazzled by the whole thing.

But then she rubbed at the spot. "Ow…" she mumbled.

Elita laughed at her softly.

"Anyway…" Aria said stubbornly, trying not to pout too much, and then giving up altogether and going for full blown puppy eyes instead as she clapped her hands together, begging now, "just please oh please oh _please_ don't scare him off!" She hissed-whispered-begged. Hisperegged. Yeah, that was it.

Elita smiled and laughed again. Then without warning she scooped up her little friend and smacked her loudly on the head, making Aria shriek loudly in surprise as an electric current sped from her crown to her heels using her spine as a conduit.

"Eeeheeheehaaaa!" Aria shrieked, but Elita was already talking so she didn't hear.

"Don't worry Aria," she said too loudly to put Aria at ease. She just _knew_ Nathanial could hear them now. "We won't kill your love life off so soon!"

But then she slanted her friend a sneaky look. "Yet anyways."

Aria groaned pitifully to herself as Elita snuggled her and giggled to lovingly annoy her further before finally setting her down on the desk.

Aria stood here, shoulders slumped as she sulked. She glanced up and groaned when she saw she had an audience.

Peg and Nathanial just stared at her. Aria groaned again when she saw that Nathanial was trying to bite back a smile. Peg wasn't even bothering to hold her horsy laughter in. She just laughed so hard that she ended up rolling on the ground. Nathanial stepped back so he wouldn't catch a hoof in the face.

Aria groaned again and slumped off towards the door, ignoring Elita's smile.

She only turned back once when she reached the edge of the desk. "You gonna be okay here for awhile?" She asked Nathanial with little to no inflection.

Nathanial just smiled understandingly at her. "I think I can manage. Good luck with Prowl."

Aria grunted noncommittally and hopped down to the floor to leave the room.

Elita put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at the little human as the door slid shut behind her. She just made it too easy sometimes.

Another, deeper, laugh reminded her that she wasn't alone in the room.

Elita carefully collected herself, not wanting to let this other human know what she was thinking so easily. And if her cool, neutral features set him on edge a bit too, well, she wouldn't complain.

He certainly looked on edge when she finally turned to face him. He had been grinning after Aria, amused by her sulking, but the expression disappeared when he saw Elita staring coolly at him. He tried to busy himself with his animal, probably hoping she'd leave him alone because of it, but Elita wasn't about to let him off that easily.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," Elita started, walking over to him with calculated steps, "I am Elita-One, femme commander and spark mate of Optimus Prime." She introduced herself, not skipping on any of the formalities this time. Usually she didn't attach _everything_ like that to her name, but in this one instance she wanted to make sure that this man knew she was a force to be reckoned with. "I'm also a close friend of Aria's." She told him with a meaningful tilt of her head.

The new human straightened up, fist jumping to his heart in what she thought was a salute as he politely inclined his upper torso towards her in a bow.

"Nathanial Hawthorne, Equines rider of the Council's Cavalry and son of the House Hawthorne. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance ma'am."

Nathanial's creature whickered unhappily and nipped at his shirt sleeve.

"Oh, and this of course is Peggy Sue-" he added quickly.

_"Peg."_ The creature interrupted.

Elita's optic ridges drew closer together in surprise. "Pardon?" she asked the creature, somewhat surprised it could talk.

The four legged beast stamped a hoof agitatedly. _"My name's Peg. No one calls me Peggy but Miss Miriam and him,"_ she swung her long head to indicate her human,_ "and that's only when I do very well at not listening to him."_ She clarified firmly, tossing her head up and down for emphasis.

Elita had to force the smile away from her face at the creature's bluntness. "Of course then. Peg."

Peg's ears turned forward, making her look alert and pleasant.

Elita turned back to the human, cool expression returning. "So tell me human," she started, taking one final step closer towards him, closing the distance between them, "just what _are _your intentions towards our Aria?"

Nathanial swallowed hard and tried not to flinch. He had sorta been expecting something like this when he and Aria had started spending more time together. But then they had made it past three official dates and no one had stepped forward and Nathanial, foolishly, had started to hope he wouldn't have to have this talk with anyone.

_"So much for that…"_ Nathanial thought as he tried to think of a way to answer the femme currently staring him down that couldn't be construed as wrong in any way, shape, or fashion.

He took a deep breath and let it out a moment later in a loud whoosh of air.

"Look Elita-One," Nathanial said, striving for polite but honest, "I like Aria. I like Aria a lot. She's beautiful, funny, and not afraid to speak her mind. And I know she has close relationships with pretty much every bot in the city, yourself included, and you all seem to have many," he made a face, "_many_ opinions on my spending time with her. And quite frankly, I'm a little sick of it. I'm sorry," he quickly held his hands out in front of him as if to stem any objections Elita might have, "but it's just difficult dealing with a," he stumbled over the best choice of word, "family as big as yours, er, hers.

"And to answer your question," he said more tentatively as Elita listened calmly, "I really just want to get to know her better, spend some time with her. Truly." He told her firmly, then went on a little too quickly, "And I don't know if we're soul mates or bond mates or whatever the heck you call it when you find out two of you are the a whole," he told her, fidgeting slightly before shaking himself and meeting Elita's stead gaze again. She watched curiously as most of the anxieties he'd shown since he'd seen her disappeared as he straightened up and met her head on, so to speak. "But I would like to find out."

Elita waited a moment. "Are you done now?" She asked with a slight tilt of her head.

Nathanial's eyes darted away uncertainly before going back to her. "Um…yes, that was about it." He said, clearing his throat.

Elita-One nodded slowly. "Just making sure…" she said thoughtfully. She watched him another cycle, turning his words over in her processor.

Eventually she knelt down to the human's level, catching his attention again.

"Human," she began, but then reconsidered, "Nathanial, my goal was not to put you ill at ease, or talk you out of pursuing our Aria." She said. Nathanial noted the way that even now when she wasn't trying to intimidate him, Elita still used the 'our Aria'. He was beginning to think that it should be added as another case in the Cybertronian language.

Elita went on, unaware of Nathanial's thoughts. "However you must understand that Aria," she paused, "Aria is…precious to us. To all of us. I can't properly explain it-" this obviously bothered her, "but if Aria isn't your sister then she's your friend."

"And if she isn't your friend?" Nathanial asked curiously.

Elita-One smiled like he had just said something fairly ignorant. "I don't believe there is a bot in the city that doesn't think of Aria as their friend. She has made sure of that. She's insisted on getting to know everyone here and, well," she shrugged sweetly, "you know her well enough to know that once Aria sets her mind to something she doesn't give up until it's finished."

Nathanial nodded. "I suppose I _have_ noticed that about her." He said with a slight grin, feeling more at ease around the femme bot now.

Elita grew serious again, making Nathanial think that maybe he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"However because she is precious to us all, we want to protect her, keep her safe. And while I understand that relationships like yours can be," she rested her clasped hands on her knee and looked away briefly in an all too knowing look, "_difficult_, if you ever hurt her intentionally," she rose to her full height again and looked down at Nathanial, "then you and I will have more then words between us."

Nathanial knew she meant what she said, but it didn't frighten him exactly. Rather, he thought he understood what she meant.

He nodded sharply to her. "I understand," he told her, then spread his hands earnestly, "I only wish I could promise that things will go smoothly between us but-" he ran out of words.

Elita nodded slowly. "But love can be difficult." She said again, somewhat sadly.

Nathanial nodded and didn't speak.

An aggravated sigh broke their heavy silence.

_"Ugghhh…"_ Peg snorted in a maximum state of boredom now, _"why must you two be so serious all the time?" _She asked them, head sunk half to the ground.

She immediately perked right up. _"Can we have carrots now that you're done? You _are_ done?" _She looked between the two of them. _"Right?"_

Elita-One lightly laughed at the foreign creature. "Yes Peg, we're done. Now perhaps you would care to enlighten me about your," she held out a slender digit to Peg, who obligingly stepped on like a trained bird, "fascinating existence."

Peg swung her head slowly to the right, her version of a shrug, and gave a deep rumble in her chest. _"Well my existence is very straightforward Boss-Femme. I get up in the morning and it goes on from there."_

Elita laughed, genuinely amused by the strange creature's way of thinking. "Of course, how silly of me."

Peg nodded. _"Yes, I'm glad you noticed. Now can we go find those carrots? I worked hard this morning and my stomachs are empty!"_ She complained.

Elita couldn't help but grin at the creature in her palm. "Well I'm afraid I don't know what a 'carrots' is or where to find one, but I could go for some energon myself."

Peg's ears immediately perked up and her nose quivered in excitement. _"Forget carrots! I'm having what _you're _having!"_ She rumbled again in excitement and anxiously shifted her weight from hoof to hoof.

Elita turned to Nathanial. "Do you mind if she and I go find something to eat Nathanial? I'll make sure she stays out of trouble." She promised.

Nathanial laughed slightly and raised a helpless hand. "Honestly I think she's probably going to listen to you better then me anyway. Go for it."

Elita smiled and thanked him before returning her attention to Peg as she walked towards the door.

"Thank you," she said, quite unexpectedly, before she left, "for being honest with me Nathanial Hawthorne."

Nathanial met her gaze and nodded. "Of course."

Peg didn't really care about their pleasantries. _"And don't you worry Boss-femme. I keep my human on a short reign so he won't do anything…"_ she swung her head around to shoot Nathanial a sharp look_, "stupid."_ She whuffled.

Nathanial rolled his eyes and didn't answer her, although he did hear Elita laugh again.

"I feel much better already knowing you're looking after the two of them Peg." She said.

The door closed before Nathanial could hear Peg give anything other then a pleased nicker.

With a shake of his head at his silly Equine, Nathanial turned around to gather Peg's saddle so he could head back down to the storage room-

-and came face to face with an unhappy Wrecker staring down at him.

_"What the heck?" _Was the first thing that shot through Nathanial's mind as he jumped. What was it about today that made all these bots wanted to sneak up on him like that?

Nathanial blinked up at Val, somewhat surprised he had managed to get in here so quickly, not to mention quietly. It wasn't like the young mech was exactly known for his _stealthyness_, but he figured Val must have snuck in when Elita and Peg had left. Which probably meant he had been listening at the door too…

Val for his part stood still, towering above him with his strong arms cross imposingly over his broad chest. His irritated scowl never changed as he stared down at the human suddenly standing by himself, no friends around to help him, or to run off and give Ratchet some heads up.

A moment of silence passed where Nathanial held his breath and Val didn't move.

Nathanial finally drew in an unsteady breath when dark spots began to appear in front of his eyes.

"You heard all of that," he asked levelly, "didn't you?"

Val didn't even blink. "Yup." He answered, sounding unusually calm about the matter. "And to be honest, I've got half a processor to squish you for it human."

Nathanial didn't see any reason to disbelief the furious mech.

Slowly, the bot cocked his head to the side, eyeing the human.

"But I'm not going to." Val said, a nerve rattling smirk starting to appear on his faceplates. "No, if only because it'll be so much more fun to passively torture you in the future-"

_"Great."_ Nat thought, only imaging what Val would consider to be 'passive torture'.

"-and because even _I've_ got enough patience to wait for you to fatally mess things up with Jie Mei."

Nathanial gave Val an all out glare at that.

"So here's what I'm going to do," Val said before slowly leaning down to Nathanial's eye level. Nathanial crossed his own arms and waited, mirroring Val's stubborn defiance perfectly. Despite how he felt about the man that was stealing his Jie Mei away from him, Val still couldn't help but give him grudging credit for that. Maybe he wasn't as much of a wimp as he had first thought.

Val took another minute to look Nathanial up and down before going on.

"Here's what I'm going to do," he said again, "I am going to do…nothing."

Nathanial's pose loosened. He certainly hadn't been expecting that. "Excuse me?" The words were startled out of him.

Val smirked, knowing he had caught the man off guard. "I'm going to do nothing. For now at least. For one, I'm still waiting for your inevitable screw up to show Jie Mei what a mistake she's making and, for number two, Arcee and Bluestreak, for some reason, like you. And since we're the only four young bots here, the decision came out even."

Nathanial raised an eyebrow at him. "Even?" He asked skeptically.

Val shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah, we took a vote."

Nathanial honestly had no answer to that.

"So…" he said slowly when he remembered their original problem, "you're not going to stalk me anymore?"

Val shook his head. "Nope."

"And no more glaring at me whenever I'm taking Aria out?"

"Eh," Val waggled a hand, "I reserve the right to glare at you."

Nathanial thought about that. "Alright," he conceded, "alright fair enough. But no more trying to blast me with paintballs either?"

Val's tone lightened to something that was almost friendly. "You know you should really reconsider that one. We can always use an extra player and I'm pretty sure Aria would let you borrow her equipment." Val said, pointing at him with both forefingers.

Nathanial's brow creased. "Uh…right. I'll, um, think about it." He gave Val another uncertain look.

"So that's it?" He asked, just to be sure.

Val grinned and nodded. "Yup. That's it."

For some reason this did not make Nathanial feel any better. "It's seems too simple."

Val shrugged one massive shoulder. "Eh, I'm a simple guy."

Nathanial slowly nodded. "True enough I suppose…" he trailed off.

Val just looked down at him, still grinning amiably, like he had truly meant every word.

The anxiety knots in Nathanial's back loosened just the slightest bit. "Well, alright then."

Val continued to smile.

"I'll just-" Nathanial jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Peg's tack, "I'm just gonna take this stuff back to the storage room then."

Val nodded. "Alrighty then."

Nathanial peered up at him, scrutinizing his reactions. "And then get ready for my date with Aria."

Val's optic ridges didn't even twitch. "Okay then. Have fun."

"…right." Nathanial finally said, taking a careful step backwards, "well…see you later then. I'm, er, glad we had this talk."

Val nodded once. "Me too man." He waved two fingers in a farewell. "Later."

Nathanial had backed up to his equipment and after one more uncertain look at Val, hefted it up on his hip. The mech didn't say anything as he took the leathers and dropped them over the side of the desk. He just followed the human with his optics as he slid down to the floor, picked up his tack, and headed towards the door.

Nathanial only looked back once he was at the door, a safe distance between him and the young Wrecker. Val hadn't moved. Just smiled and waved again when he saw Nathanial looking at him.

Nathanial's hands were too full of Peg's tack to wave back, so he just nodded his head before going through the door.

"Well that was weird." He mumbled once the door was safely shut behind him. He waited a moment to see if Val would come after him yet, but there was no sound of giant footsteps from the other room.

"Huh," Nathanial said with a shrug, "well what do you know? I guess he really meant it after all."

He started walking in the direction of the med bay. Hopefully Ratchet wasn't in too bad a mood so Nat could-

_SNAP!_

_ ZIP!_

_ SWOOSH!_

_ "AHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Nathanial yelled as the world abruptly turned upside down and flew past him with dizzying speed. He dropped the saddle in surprise as he was flung into the air, something strong biting into his right ankle.

He remembered a brief, terrifying freefall before bouncing at least once and sailing through the air again and finally coming to a tenuous stop, the whatever-it-was biting harder into the area above his foot.

He hung there for a moment, heart about to explode out of his throat as he breathed too fast. With all of the blood rushing to his head, it took him a minute to realize that he was hanging upside down in the middle of the hallway. He managed to lift his head to see that the thing biting into his ankle was a metallic rope. Disbelief flooded Nathanial's mind. He had just walked straight into a freaking snare trap!

And a familiar pair of blue optics were now staring at him as their owner cackled gleefully.

"Dude!" Val crowed as he came up, his optics on level with Nathanial's dangling form, "I can't believe you _bought_ all that!"

Nathanial had enough presence of mind through the blood banging in his ears to glare at Val.

Val just shook his head and heaved a happy sigh as he admired his handy work.

"I can't believe that worked." Bumblebee said as he came out from his hiding place around the corner.

Val looked up at his partner in crime. "Well it just goes to show that _some_ humans are as gullible as they look." He reached out and pushed Nathanial in the stomach, making him swing like a human pendulum.

Nathanial's frown deepened as the faces of Val, Bumblebee, and then the nearby stretch of gray, colorless wall swung past his swaying field of vision.

"I can't say that this surprises me coming from _you_ Val," he said slowly, resigning himself to the inevitable gloating, "but you Bumblebee? Here I thought you were one of the _good _ones."

Bumblebee actually looked ashamed of himself for a moment, nervously touching his forefingers together as he looked away. "Well…" he mumbled under his breath.

Val threw an arm over Bumblebee's shoulders with a wide victorious grin. "Well I guess this means you're about as great at judging character as you are watching where you step." He laughed.

"Oh, I don't know," Nathanial said in mock thoughtfulness as he swung, spinning a little, "I think I got _you_ pegged pretty well."

Val actually glared, stiffening up next to his friend.

"This is strike one human." Val told the human, holding up a digit to reiterate his point, "And if you insist on any more of this funny business with _our _sister I'll be forced to take more…" he pretended to think about his next words and then shrugged, smirking smugly all the while, "drastic measures."

Even dangling upside down, swinging at least a story off of the ground, Nathanial looked less then impressed.

"Oh dear," the human said, voice dripping a flat kind of sarcasm, "whatever shall I do? I am so terrified. Ee."

Bumblebee had to resist the urge to snicker at Val. He looked about as happy as Nathanial did.

"The sarcasm is not appreciated human!" The brownish-gray mech shot back, pointing a pillar sized digit at the man.

Nathanial's face didn't change from his unimpressed, unamused expression. "It wasn't supposed to be." He told him.

"Alright that's it!" Val shouted, making Bumblebee look over his shoulder to make sure no one had heard him. "Bee!" Val shouted, making the yellow bot jump again.

He turned and scowled at Val. "What?" 'Bee snapped.

"It's time for plan B!"

Confusion seeped into Bumblebee's scowl. "We have a plan B?"

Val just vented a sigh, shoulders slumping. "Yes Bee, we have a plan B."

The alliteration made Bumblebee lean back, slightly nervously. "It's not anything to do with me is it? Cuz I'm not giving you that kind of help _ever again_." He said obstinately. He had learned his lesson the _first_ time thank you so much.

Val smacked a large hand to his face. "Oh for Primus sake..." he muttered. Then he brought two distinctly recognizable objects out of his subspace. "_This_ is Plan B!" He all but shouted, shaking the objects at the other mech.

Bumblebee stared at them. "Oh." He said slowly. "Well that's different."

Nathanial just stared, wide eyed, at the things in Val's hands.

Val smirked victoriously at him. "And just think human; I have even more in subspace." He said, happy as a kid that's about to color on the walls.

He took a menacing step towards Nathanial's dangling, exposed, form.

"Oh Pit no-" the human managed to say, beginning to struggle, however futile it was-

And then they were on him!


	22. Chapter 22: Con't Antics of Screws Pt 2

HEY! I have a MAJOR FAVOR to ask of you guys!

Right, so last week I entered the Get Discovered Writing Contest at and they've only just _now_ told me that voting will start TOMORROW! And I am asking all of you to vote for my stuff! The ten pieces with the most likes from normal everyday people like us get sent to the judges and the one they pick gets sent to a publishing house! XD

So please please _PLEASE_ vote for my pieces! There are five altogether - a play, the starts of three novels, and a short story - just look for _Poisoned Sleep, The Everlasting King, The Adventures of Shinshin & Seijin, The Little Star, _and_ The World Travelers _all by Bethany Lindell! There might also be a couple of names you recognize in The World Travelers if that catches your interest at all. I had entirely too much fun with that one! ;3

Also I'm sorry about not updating last week, but it turns out that Tuesday was the deadline for the above contest, so that got priority this once. I stayed up till 2 AM to get everything in and then I could't get to sleep til 4. Blech! xp

I'll put any new info up here and on my profile. When they finally _tell _me anything that is...and now to return to your regularly schedule chapter update. :)

* * *

><p>So right now I'm trying to write the next chapter, and I have realized something important. I <em>hate<em> maniacal thinking. I just do. It's difficult. And annoying. And I'm pretty sure this plot line is kicking my butt. When I finished _I Lost A World!_ I was pretty happy with it, but I've got a bad feeling this one will require some rehaul and straightening out when I finally figuring everything out...Ugh, so frustrating. But I guess I really shouldn't drive myself crazy over these things when it doesn't really matter at this point. So moving on to the chapter!

Thank you of course to all those that reviewed! I love you guys, even if sometimes The Long Road Home doesn't live up to your expectations sometimes...yeah anyway, I'm still glad to hear what you guys think.

And for all those out there that are mad at Val and Bumblebee, well, I can't say I expected them to come off _that _jerk-like, and hopefully you don't honestly _hate _them for their stupidity. Of course, if you aren't mad at them then I'm not doing my job right. ;) Anyway, all I have to say about them is don't worry, they'll get _exactly_ what they deserve.

Just wait until Aria finds out. ;3

...

The Long Road Home

22 – The Continuing Antics of Screwballs Pt 2 – 22

Aria's sulky mood didn't last long once she started walking towards Prowl's office. She was having too good of a day, and it only promised to get better this evening when she joined Nat for dinner. He hadn't said where or what they were eating, saying something about a surprise, but Aria thought they could eat Wheeljack's nutrition bars and she would still have a good time.

She gave a little skip as she finally found the right door. "Prowl?" She asked jauntily as she walked into the room. She looked around the large room, but didn't see the black and white tactician anywhere. "Prowler? You in here?" She asked again, a little louder this time in case he had his head buried in data pads again. She didn't want to surprise him and start yet _another _datapad-alanche. That last one had almost buried her altogether.

"He's not in here Ariah. He left some time ago."

Aria nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden appearance of the deep voice behind her. She spun around with a half stifled shriek, but stopped when she saw who it was.

She pressed a hand over her half heart and blew out a noisy breath. "Geez Optimus! You almost gave me a spark attack here! What're you doing sneaking around here in the dark?" She asked loudly.

Optimus raised one optic ridge from the doorway before flicking on the light, making Aria flinch as their sudden brightness. "I was about to ask you the same thing." He said, peering down at her. "What do you need Prowl for?"

Aria glanced up at the tall mech somewhat uneasily. "Elita said that he wanted to see me about something is all." She told him with a half hearted shrug.

It would have been hard for Optimus not to miss the way her eyes kept darting away from him. He opened his mouth to finally broach the subject, but his determination failed him at the last moment.

"Well he's in the command room," he said instead, "He's been in there all morning though and I haven't heard him mention anything he would need to talk to you about. Are you sure Elita said he was the one asking for you?" Optimus asked carefully, stubbornly refusing to fidget with the data pads in his hands.

Aria frowned in thought, eyebrows creasing together slightly. "Well Elita said that Val said that-"

She suddenly gasped, startling Optimus some. "Val!" She said again, eyebrows raised almost to her hairline now, fingers spread wide in shock. "Oh how stupid of me! He was trying to get me out of the way for something!" She smacked a hand to her forehead as she realized something else. "Oh frack Nathanial! I've got to go Optimus." Aria said suddenly, moving towards the door, "I think my boyfriend's about to land himself in some _serious _trouble."

"B-boyfriend?!" Optimus stuttered, nearly dropping his data pads at the word. But the word must have jarred some of his anxiety loose, because he quickly put a hand in front of Aria, blocking her way to the door. "Ariah wait!"

Aria almost had to skid to a stop as Optimus' hand suddenly appeared in front of her. She looked up at him curiously, but didn't speak.

Optimus was inwardly grateful. He didn't need any questions that would distract him right now. What he needed was to _say something_.

Unfortunately that seemed to be harder then he had first thought. And he had thought it would be hard to start with.

When several cycles passed and he still couldn't think of anything to say, Aria raised an eyebrow at him, silently wondering what was wrong.

"Optimus?" She asked softly. "Is everything alright?"

Optimus struggled with himself another klik before strangling out the words. "No, everything is _not _alright."

Aria kept her blue eyes on him, waiting patiently. Although Optimus couldn't help but notice the way she was nervously rubbing her fingertips together.

Optimus vented a deep sigh. "Ariah, I'm," his inner anxiety rose higher before he shoved it off one last time, "I'm sorry."

A tension Optimus had almost forgotten he was carrying suddenly vanished, making him feel just a little lighter. A part of him marveled at how simple that had been, but the majority of him just felt even more ashamed that it had taken him this long to figure out how big of a mistake he'd been making by keeping Ariah at arm's distance.

"For," he added in a low voice when Aria didn't speak, "for everything."

Aria wasn't looking up at him now. She had turned her face to the ground and her shoulders were slumped. At his words she just nodded, but still didn't say anything.

Optimus tried to think of what else he could say. "I shouldn't have yelled, and more importantly I shouldn't have ignored you, especially since you've always been there when I needed you. It was wrong of me." He said, not as hesitantly as before.

He had half been hoping for a somewhat teasing, 'Yeah, it was,' but he only got another silent nod.

Optimus resisted the urge to say he'd said his piece so it was completely reasonable to leave now since she so obviously didn't want to talk to him. He had already put this off for far too long. He couldn't talk himself out of it now that he was here.

"Ariah, can you," he asked her, voice just above a whisper, "can you ever forgive me?"

Aria finally glanced up at him. She'd heard more anxiety in his voice now then she'd heard in ages. Ironically enough it made her feel better. It was nice to know that, buried underneath all that surety, there were still some things – like this odd, peculiar friendship of theirs – where Optimus was just as clueless as she was. It made her think that maybe he hadn't changed as much at spark then she sometimes thought.

Aria nodded again, and then sniffed loudly, wiping her nose on her shirt. Her voice sounded kind of thick when she finally spoke. "Yeah, yeah I can." She mumbled, glancing up at him again with red eyes. "Just please don't ever do that to me again." She choked out.

Feeling even worse then before (another feat Optimus hadn't thought possible) the tall mech nodded at her with sad optics. Then hesitantly – because he still wasn't sure that she wanted him that close to her right now – he reached through the informal bond that stretched between them and gently nudged her, silently asking if this was alright or if he had hurt her too deeply for it.

Aria just threw her arms around what fingers she could reach and hugged him tightly, with her heart along with her arms. She started crying then, so Optimus picked her up and settled himself on the floor so he wouldn't fall and accidentally damage her more fragile frame.

"Ah-ah-I'm s-sorry," Aria tried to say through her tears, "i-it's just that I missed ya-you! And I couldn't talk to a-anyone about i-it, or a-a-anything else that was r-really bothering me," she told him. It wasn't that she didn't trust anyone else with her troubles, but somehow it had always been easier to talk to Optimus. Something about the quiet, attentive way he listened when she was upset, without blame or judgment, made Aria feel better about sharing what she thought and felt, even the darker parts of herself that she didn't like to talk about. And unlike Ratchet and Ironhide – actually, unlike _most _of her other friends in general – he didn't try to fix her problems. He simply sat there and listened quietly, only giving advice when she asked for it.

"I e-especially couldn't t-talk to them bout Nat," Aria went on, unable to stop now that the floodgates keeping all her frustrations in had been opened, "it feels like they've all got something against him. 'Bee doesn't trust him after how we found him. Val just plain hates him! And Ironhide keeps calling him Target Practice!" She exclaimed thickly. "Although he hasn't had time recently since Chromia got here, and I'm sure _she'll _find something wrong with him once she _meets him!_ So talking to them is all _pointless!_" She said fiercely, sobs getting louder again at the thought.

Optimus resisted the urge to grin mirthlessly and shake his head. That _sounded _like Ironhide.

But he didn't think Aria would find it funny at the moment, so he kept his humor to himself and carefully rubbed her back with a finger to try and calm her down.

"Ariah," Optimus tried, not really surprised things had gotten this weepy this quick. He wasn't sure exactly how the girl had been feeling before Elita had arrived, but he got the distinct impression Ariah had been stuffing these things down for awhile. It could have been the organic liquid starting to pool in his palm, but, ya know, he had a feeling. "Ariah if you keep this up you're going to make yourself sick." He chided her gently. "Now calm down. I'm sure they don't honestly hate him."

Aria hiccupped morosely. "But they do!" She moaned with an aggravated wave of her hands. "And how can I be happy with Nat when my whole family can't _stand_ him?!" She said, not quite asking.

But Optimus considered the question anyway with a suddenly knowing little vent. "Is that what's got you up all in knots Ariah? No one else likes him so how can you?"

Aria flicked weepy red eyes at him, and then gave him a sad little nod. "I feel like I'm crazy for liking this guy when everyone else treats him like, like a Decepticon!" She exclaimed. But the passion was brief and she gave another unhappy sigh, shoulders slumping further. She blinked cheerlessly up at her friend. "And just what do you think about this?" She snorted sarcastically, but to Optimus it sounded like she was going to start crying again. "Everyone else has already told me their opinions at this rate!"

"Well I don't think he's a Decepticon if that's what you mean." Optimus said with a straight face. "He's too emotionally clumsy. It's hard to see him as cruel when he can't stop tripping over his tongue when he talks to you."

But Aria didn't laugh like he'd hoped. She just scrubbed at her eyes to bite back the new tears before sinking back into a miserable sulk, staring almost hollow eyed out at the empty air.

Optimus didn't try anymore feeble jokes after that. "I think," he finally said slowly, carefully reaching out with a finger and tilting Aria's chin so she was facing him directly. "I think that it really doesn't matter what I think."

Aria blinked at him, a touch of confusion replacing some of her glum look.

"What?" She asked him in disbelief.

Optimus' optics dimmed slightly as he thought about how to phrase this. "Ariah, you're…fond of this man yes?" She nodded. "Not because he's good with the younglings, or made a good first impression right?" He asked her with a more teasing smile.

Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "Well you already know that last one isn't true." She grumbled.

Optimus chuckled dryly. "Just making sure," he told her, "but in the end you found you liked him despite all of that right?"

Aria gave him a look that clearly said she was wondering where this was going. "Yeah…" she said slowly.

"Well then I was just thinking, what does it matter if any of us like him or not? _You_ like him. And he obviously likes you. Just," he waved his other hand somewhat jerkily like he was hoping she understood the rest without him mentioning it explicitly, "move forward from there."

Aria blinked at his not so definitive ending note. "Just move forward from there?" She repeated uncertainly. "Really? That's all you've got to say about…everything?" She asked, sounding hopeful that he had some other piece of wisdom tucked away that she could use.

Optimus vented a rough sigh and readjusted his hold on Aria. "My point," he said, sounding a bit frustrated now, "is that no one else here – not Val or Bumblebee or Ironhide or Elita or myself or _anyone else _– can chose who you love. You've got to make that choice yourself, and when you do, _you're _the one," he pointed at her with his other hand, "that's got to help make it work. Just you and your partner." He waved his other hand decisively, "no one else. So in the end it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about him."

Aria mulled this over in her mind. "Choice huh?" She eventually heard herself mumble. She liked how he had put that. It wasn't, 'no one else can tell you who to _fall_ in love with' it was, 'only you can _chose_'. It implied that she had a direct sense of control over this relationship, and in times like this when she didn't even have control over what she had for breakfast much less anything else, it was nice to think she could at the very least chose who to give her feelings to.

And if what Optimus said was true, then Nat had the same choice. And, since he hadn't run out the door screaming 'you so totally aren't worth all this!' yet, Aria thought she could guess what choice he had made. It was a partnership, not some pre-arranged play date.

Aria smiled up at Optimus. "That," she said slowly, "actually makes total sense. Thanks OP."

Optimus' face relaxed into a smile too, and Aria couldn't help but think she had just seen her bodyweight in tension evaporate from his frame.

But then she frowned as another thought occurred to her. "Hey wait a minute! That 'love is your choice' speech sounded almost exactly like your 'freedom is the right of all sentient beings' speech!" She exclaimed, a lot louder then before.

Optimus, to his credit, managed to keep a straight face. "Just wait until you hear my 'welcome to Aria's one hundredth and forty-seventh vorn creation day celebration' speech."

Aria laughed before she realized it. "Gee thanks for all the effort. And it's called a birthday, not creation day." She laughed again.

Optimus was about to tell her how big a difference he thought that made, but stopped when he caught sight of the suddenly shocked look on Aria's face. She was staring at something just past his shoulder, and from the suddenly exaggerated width of her eyes, it wasn't something she had expected to see in _this_ lifetime.

Optimus turned around, started to turn back, and then did a double take when he realized just who exactly was standing in the doorway behind him, and what he was…er, wearing, sort of...

The human Nathanial was standing behind them, but Optimus wasn't exactly surprised that he hadn't recognized the other human when he'd first seen him. He didn't really look like himself at the moment.

For one, he was polka dotted, and for two, he was now wrapped up in a giant, clumsily tied, red bow.

He looked like someone's messed up version of a present.

Nathanial growled in frustration and embarrassment when he saw them staring at him. In their defense, Optimus thought, it was rather hard _not_ to stare. What with that new coat of pastel pink, orange, yellow, and lime green polka dots the man was now sporting.

Aria and Optimus continued staring in total disbelief. Nathanial just groaned again as he ran a frustrated hand through his already disheveled hair and smartly turned around to head back the way he came. But then he growled again as he realized going back wouldn't get him a shower and a new set of clothes. And now there was a brand new streak of green paint in his hair to boot.

For a long moment, nobody moved.

The silence was broken by Nathanial's mortified groan accompanied by the rustle of his new ribbon as the thick tails whispered against the floor.

"Nat…" Aria whispered, sounding horrified, "what on Cybertron_ happened _to you?" She breathed.

Nathanial didn't answer, just looked up at the bot kneeling over her with dangerously level eyes. "Does your lady have any brothers?" He asked, the anger carefully contained in his voice.

Optimus blinked at him, somewhat taken aback by this odd turn of events. "No…" he finally answered slowly.

Nathanial seethed even more. Optimus could practically see the heat waves coming off his head. "Lucky you." The man grumbled darkly.

Optimus took in Nathanial's new coat of paint and the red ribbon restricting his arm movements. "Indeed." He answered back.

Nathanial shot another embarrassed glance at Aria. Man, of all the people he could have run into, she was the _last_ one he'd wanted to see in this state.

All he could think to say to her though was, "Mind if we push dinner back an hour?"

Aria just nodded, still dumbfounded.

Holding back another groan, Nathanial hefted the ribbons on his chest higher, like a girl adjusting her prom dress, and stalked down the hall with as much dignity as he could muster.

Optimus and Aria subtly leaned out of the open door to watch him go. It wasn't until he'd turned the corner that they both realized he'd have to go through the well populated rec room to get to the medical bay and the safety his storage closest offered. Just another aspect of the boys' plan most likely.

"My gosh." Aria whispered when Nathanial was gone. As Optimus watched, a concerned expression finally broke through her astonishment.

"My boyfriend," she murmured sympathetically.

But as Optimus continued to watch her, her sympathy was quickly replaced by an angry scowl.

"My _brothers_." She said sharply, realizing who had committed this heinous, painterly, act.

Optimus suddenly found it wise to put Aria back down on the ground, just in case she decided that falling a story to the ground so she could get to her brothers that much sooner was worth it.

The tall bot watched some more as Aria stood there in silent fury a long moment.

"They," she finally ground out through her teeth, fists clenched at her side, "are. _So_. _Dead!_" She hissed before turning to stalk out the still open door.

Optimus waved two fingers at her. "Don't give Ratchet too difficult of a fix up job Ariah." He told her before realizing he actually had something more to say. "And, uh, Ariah?" Optimus added hesitantly.

Aria turned around and gave him a questioning look, most of her anger sinking below the surface. No doubt she was saving it for the perpetrators.

Optimus awkwardly rubbed at his helm. It seemed rather foolish to say sorry again, but he had a feeling he should say something.

"Thank you," he said, almost before he had any idea the words were there, "for-"

But Aria cut him off with a wave of her hand. "It's alright." She told him, a relieved smile appearing on her familiar face. "I'm just really, _really_ glad you finally came to your senses."

Optimus returned her grin. "Me too." He told her.

She suddenly pointed a stern finger at him. "Just don't ever do it again. And that's an order." She told him, trying to keep the smile off her face at that last one.

Optimus laughed, abruptly reminded of Elita's words a few lunar cycles before. She had been right, as usual. He'd have to thank her for calling him out on this when he saw her next.

Optimus pointed off down the hall after Nathanial. "Tell Val and Bumblebee I said hello." He told his human friend, optics shining a little bit deviously now.

Aria turned around, that determined look back in her eyes. "Oh I will." She shot back over her shoulder.

Optimus just chuckled as he turned back to his data pads. That had been every bit as painful as he had feared it would be, but he still felt a swamping sense of relief that he'd finally managed to talk to Aria.

Now his only regret was that he was going to miss the show.

...

"Maybe we've gone too far this time…" Bumblebee muttered as the stifled laughter started to spread around them.

Val shot him a hard look. "Pfft, yeah right. I say serves the little turbo-rat right for sneaking peeks at _our_ sister." He dusted his hands triumphantly in front of him. "Try and remember that 'Bee."

Bumblebee did _try _and remember that, but for some reason, he just couldn't do it right. He didn't really feel angry. Not that that wasn't worth being angry about he thought, but…well, he just wasn't any more.

And watching the human Nathanial try and walk with his head held high when he looked like a polka dotted kewpie doll and wrapped in a large red bow to match, Bumblebee found with some surprise that he now felt more guilty then anything.

"I dunno Val…" 'Bee said again. "I mean, what'll Jie Mei think when she finds out?"

"More importantly what'll she say?" Bluestreak mumbled from Bumblebee's other side as he stared at Nat with wide, disbelieving optics. He just couldn't believe they had gone this far...

Val shrugged as if he didn't are either way, even though his three friends knew it was a lie. He had to be at least a _little _worried about what their sister would do since she was the whole reason this man had him so on edge to begin with.

"I'm with 'Bee," Bluestreak said louder now, "I definitely _don't _think this was a good idea. I can't believe you two did something so _stupid!_" He hissed at them.

Bumblebee felt his antenna wilt as that nasty sinking feeling sunk deeper into his core. Now that he thought about it, Aria was going to shoot through the roof when she found out.

"I'm with 'Bee and I _know_ this was not a good idea." Arcee spoke up from Bluestreak's far side. "Jie Mei is _so _going to dismantle the pair of you when she finds out."

Val scowled at her. "She will not." He snapped defensively.

Arcee raised an optic ridge at him, but didn't say anything else as she turned back to watching Nathanial walk across the crowded room.

"Whoa, nice threads new guy," Blaster said as he caught sight of Nathanial too, "did you just get tired or the same old look or did Aria finally get her hands on your wardrobe?"

"Either that or he's going to try out for rodeo clown school." Sunstreaker said, making Sideswipe laugh next to him.

"Ya know," Nathanial muttered darkly as he stalked through the staring crowd, "for a bunch of bots that have never even _been _to Earth before you sure know a lot about human culture," Nathanial muttered darkly. "It's annoying."

More snickers followed him, louder then before.

"Ga ha!" Tracks yelled when he caught sight of the human as he walked past him. "I'll tell you what's wrong with him. That color scheme! It's awful!"

"Like one of those funny colored pony things Aria told us about just up chucked a rainbow on him." Twintwist said while Topspin tried not to laugh too loudly next to him.

Val snickered and playfully shoved Bumblebee. 'Bee's shoulders just slumped morosely forward. "Why do I ever listen to you?" He mumbled at Val.

Val didn't appear to notice his friend's glum mood as he watched his handiwork continue through the crowded room. "Because I'm a freakin' _genius_." He told him.

Bumblebee just groaned and hid his face in his hand.

Nathanial grumbled swears under his breath. "What are you lot even waiting for anyway?!" He demanded loudly, turning to glare at all the assembled bots he could.

Near the front of the room an anticipatory murmur suddenly appeared.

"_That._" Jazz said as a large, lopsided smile appeared on his faceplates. He pointed towards the source of the murmur and Nathanial turned to look.

And then straightened up in surprise as Aria stormed through the crowd, parting them like a Cybertronian version of Moses. She looked around the bots with eyes so hot that he thought it was a miracle that none of them melted on the spot. Actually, most of them just put hands over their mouths to muffle their laughter and settled in to watch the show.

Jazz elbowed Blaster standing next to him. "I got this one." He told him before pulling one of the many songs he had hijacked from Aria's iPod out of his repertoire and playing it for all to hear.

Slinky strings started playing softly in the background just as Aria turned her head and slowly started searching the crowd for a pair of familiar faces. When her eyes finally lit on Bumblebee and Val standing to her left, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

_BUUUM!_

_ BUUUM!_

_ BA BA BA BUUUM!_

_ BUBUBU BUUUM!_

_ BUUUUUUUMMMMM!_

"You two!" Aria shouted.

Blaster looked over at Jazz and started nodding approvingly. "Okay, so I was thinking that Jaws song would be better, but you've got me convinced."

Jazz nodded. "Oh yeah, Night on Bald Mountain wins every time."

Across the room from the two music bots, Bumblebee and Val jerked back from their sister's incriminating finger pointed their way.

"Who?" Val asked, startled.

"Us?" Bumblebee asked in a small, guilty voice, pointing at his chest. He didn't look nearly as surprised as Val. Actually, he didn't look surprised at all.

Arcee and Bluestreak shared a look, and then wisely put some distance between them and the two guilty parties.

"Yes _you!_" Aria snapped giving each of them a furious glare.

The boys shared one horrified look and leaned away from their sister as she closed the distance between them with several stomps that were audible even by the bots at the back of the crowd. Ironically enough Jazz's impromptu soundtrack echoed Aria's actions with insane accuracy.

Aria stopped at Val and Bumblebee's feet and stared up at them, fists propped on her hips. Despite the height difference, the two young mechs cowered under their older sister's glare.

"What." She said in a low dangerous voice, enunciating each word carefully. "Did. You. Two. _Do?"_

Val shuffled a foot anxiously. Bumblebee twiddled his forefingers shamefully. The room was so quiet that even the farthest bots had no trouble hearing what was going on.

The boys shared another look.

"Nuthin'…" they said together.

Aria's mouth thinned dangerously. Some of the bots watching snickered. Out of the corner of his optics, Bumblebee saw Sideswipe nudge Sunstreaker and both twins grinned. Finally, someone other than them was in the hot seat.

"Nothing?" Aria asked softly. Both mechs immediately felt like they were three feet tall. "Nothing?" Aria asked, a little louder. "You call that," she flung out an arm to point at Nathanial standing exactly where he'd been since he'd seen Aria come in, "_nothing?!_ Cuz it looks like something ta me!" She shouted.

The three foot feeling instantly changed to three inches. Nathanial felt his jaw drop even farther. He felt like he was seeing some new side of Aria, and he hadn't even know there _could_ be yet another new side. Vaguely he wondered how she could still possibly surprise him after everything else she'd already proven she could do.

Right now this new side of Aria was angry – no, _furious_ he thought instead. If she started to spit fire at her brothers in the next few seconds it wouldn't surprise him. She was livid, going on enraged and Nathanial was pretty sure that if Val opened his mouth again Aria would shrink them down, fire them up, and then give _them_ a new set of spots. It was…it was…

It was pretty hot actually.

And while he had _no _idea what music Jazz was playing now, he was really beginning to hope that it was a _long_ piece.

"Just what the heck were you two even _thinking?_" Aria demanded, stomping one foot.

Aria stared at them long enough that Val made the mistake of answering carefully. "That…you wouldn't like him if he looked…as spotty as we…think he is." Val mumbled inarticulately.

"Speak for yourself." Bumblebee muttered.

A sharp look from Aria shut him up right quick.

"Spotty?" She hissed instead, pinning them both with a glare. "You think he looks…spotty?" Her muttering got louder. "I'll show you spotty!" She shouted, finally snapping as she stormed forward and kicked Val's foot. It was about the only good swing she got in before Nathanial rushed forward and pulled her back. It wasn't that he thought they'd hurt her (or that she could possibly hurt them), but he also didn't want her doing something she'd end up kicking herself for later.

"You know what?!" Aria screamed once she'd wriggled out of Nathanial's grip, although that was _after_ he'd pulled her back a yard or two. "I don't care what you think about him! Because _I_ like him! I like him _a lot!"_

Nathanial stopped trying to wipe a bright yellow spot off of his cheek and looked over at her. "Really?" He asked. "Like," he tried to think of a better word and failed, "really?"

Aria took enough time out of her furious tirade to giggle. "Yes," she said cutely and giggled again when Nathanial blushed under his new coat of paint.

Val made a gagging noise in the back of his vocal processor.

…which brought them back to the whole point of this little get together.

"And you wanna know something else?" Aria asked, whirling on her brothers again. This time Val was smart enough _not_ to answer. "You can dislike him all you like,"

"They can?" Nathanial asked anxiously.

Aria went on as if he hadn't said anything, "but that doesn't mean you can pick on him like this! So stop trying to scare him away, quit tying him up in pretty red bows, and for Heaven's sake quit _painting him!_" She shouted at them.

The boys fidgeted some more before murmuring self consciously, "Yes Jie Mei…"

Aria looked them up and down again with a scowl. "Good." She said, finally running out of things to say.

And then to everyone's surprise, she whirled on Nat.

"And you!" She shouted, poking him in the chest.

"M-me?" Nathanial asked uncertainly. "What'd I do?"

"Nuthin'," Aria said grabbing his collar and pulling him down, "and that's the problem. Now get over here." She grumbled lightly before planting a kiss on him that made all of his new spots go pink.

They were greeted by a good deal more laughter now, not to mention a few whoops of encouragement from their friends in the crowd. Jazz laughed and instantly Night on Bald Mountain changed to the high point of Lady and the Tramp's Bella Notte.

The song finished before Aria and Nathanial did, which made more bots laugh. Aria pulled back slowly, knowing her face was redder then Powerglide's paint job, not that she had any regrets.

Nathanial blinked at her. His mind was still too full of giddy haze to tell her she now had pastel green paint on her lips.

"Dang girl," Chromia's playful voice appeared out of the general muffled laughter, pulling the humans out of their thoughts, "you better keep those kinds of feelings to yourself before you give us any ideas." She told her little friend cheekily, sending an equally brazen thought down their bond.

Aria rolled her eyes, cheeks still red as she straightened up, although most everyone else noticed she still had one hand on Nathanial's chest. "Like you need any outside encouragement for _that_." Aria teased back, making a few of them laugh again, including Chromia. The blue femme just winked at Aria and internally hugged her.

_"All fun aside, I'm glad you're happy."_ The femme told her, Aria hearing the words with something other then her ears. _"And if those younglings get out of hand again you can send 'em to me. I'll sort them out."_ She told her with a grin.

Aria smiled at her and sent back her own gratitude. Finally, after all these orns, at least _two_ bots admitted that they didn't hate Nathanial just because.

Speaking of…

"H-hey," Aria said then cleared her throat to get rid of the stutter as she gently nudged Nat, "you haven't said anything yet. You…alright?" she asked slowly, hoping she hadn't embarrassed him by stepping in like that or anything.

Nathanial visibly dragged his mind back from somewhere. "Huh? Oh," he said quickly, "yeah, yeah I'm," he gave her a funny smile, "I'm fine."

She glanced up sheepishly at him from under her eyelashes. "Really?" She whispered.

Nathanial smiled at her, still a little out of it. "Yeah," he rubbed at the back of his head and grinned at her. "I was just wondering if they strung me up again if I'd get another welcome like that." He told her with a wide smile.

Aria frowned slightly, then turned back around to her brothers in disbelief. "You strung him _up?_" She demanded.

They wisely chose not to answer that question.

"Ooo," Aria huffed before flinging an exasperated arm at them and turning back towards the smirking, grinning crowd. "All of you had better behave yourselves from now on!" She hollered at them and then glared at her brothers. "And that goes triple for you. Or I will _not. Be. Happy._" She said clearly before spinning around and walking towards the door.

But not before she quickly kissed Nathanial's cheek and murmured, "See ya tonight Nat."

Nathanial smiled somewhat goofily at her. "Great." He managed to say.

Aria shot Val and Bumblebee one more dark look before striding from the room, trying to ignore the deep blush on her face and the bots still chuckling at her.

Nathanial's legs decided that now was a good time to stop working as any and he flopped down to the floor with a happy sigh. Head spinning slightly, he leaned back, head hitting the floor with a light thump as he stretched out one leg flat and spread his arms on the floor next to him.

"Wow…" he muttered, still a little dazed.

Val and Bumblebee had a very different reaction to what had just happened. They were silent. Completely, utterly, scarily, silent as they tried to think away this new guilty feeling that was making them fidget somewhat nervously.

Arcee and Bluestreak rejoined their friends only _after _Aria was gone, not wanting to be condemned guilty by association. Bluestreak shook his head at the two silent, humiliated bots, but for once didn't say anything.

Arcee just leaned an elbow on Val's shoulder and propped her chin on her hand to grin at the stupefied looks on their faces. Neither of the guilty mechs liked that mischievous gleam in her blue optics. Her triumphant smirk didn't help either.

The words weren't long in coming.

"Told ya so." She murmured gleefully.

* * *

><p>PLEASE VOTE! <em>PLUH-EEEEEAAASSSE! <em>

:) Thank you and have a nice day!


	23. Chapter 23: The Best Laid Plans

Right, out with the old, in with the newly finished. :D I really hope you like this next part, even though it turned out sadder then I anticipated. Hmm...that keeps happening to me doesn't it? And just think, it's only going to get worse! D: Gasp!

Anyway, Contest Update! The StumbleUpon contest is finally open for voting (again...) and my five works are up there for display. Just go to

www. stumbleupon (.com) /help/ get- discovered- contest- entries/

and vote by clicking the thumbs up button on the top bar. You'll have to sign up if you're not a member, but it's not an evil site (and it's free) so hopefully that's alright. Here are the names of all the works I put up:

The World Travelers

The Adventures of Shinshin & Seijin

The Everlasting King

Poisoned Sleep

The Little Star

I'm really hoping you guys will vote for me! Although it looks like there're lots of cool pieces up there (besides mine! ;P JK, the ones I've seen so far have been awesome). And I hope you enjoy what I wrote!

Now, anyone that read the mini-chapter I posted on Sept. 11 (my sister's b-day of all things) will recognize Megatron's maniacal thinking. That was the first part of this chapter and it hasn't changed at all, so you can just skip down to the first chapter break for the new stuffs. ;) I hope you like Aria and Nat's, er, 'didn't-go-as-planned' date even though it, well, didn't go as planned...

Big thank yous of course go to the people that reviewed, faved, and alerted my story (or myself since there were a few of you this past month too. Thanks!) such as Link's Rose, Umm. Hi, Bee4ever, Mercedes Wolfcry, RandomCitizen, Autobot-Bre, and Vivian Hale. You all, of course, rock! *turns red around the edges* Gorsh, thanks. ;3

And just to forestall any questions at the end; Why yes. Yes I _do_ think Sunny has a soft spot for Lady and the Tramp. He just refuses to admit it. X)

...

The Long Road Home

23 – The Best Laid Plans – 23

The war front wasn't going exactly the way Megatron had planned.

Granted, this whole blasted thing hadn't gone 'as planned' – war never did it seemed – but his current situation still annoyed him, if only because he felt he was so close to finishing the Autobots off once and for all that the realization that it would still take something more than dark energon to kill them off rankled him.

Yes, the darkened Decepticons were still taking their toll on the bots, but it wasn't quick enough. Once again the Autobots were proving more adaptable then Megatron liked. At this rate, the side affects of the dark energon still outweighed its usefulness, if only by a little, he thought. There still wasn't enough dark energon to keep away the addictive qualities that came with it. Soldiers were falling to its side affects before they could crush enough 'bots to make a difference.

Megatron's need was twofold. First and foremost he needed a way to extend the usefulness of dark energon. Either that or convert all of the energon still left in the planet into dark energon. That should be enough to conquer the Autobots. Anything that happened after that could be remedied later, especially since he still had Shockwave looking into ways to counteract the side affects of dark energon withdrawal. Supposedly Shockwave had made great lengths in that arena, or so he had said. Not that Shockwave was prone to exaggeration, but like most scientists Megatron had met, he was too concerned with the details while the larger picture remained just out of his reach. As far as Megatron knew, his idea of 'great lengths' meant that he'd figured out how to keep the subject from yowling like a cornered cyber-cat and nothing else.

Still, Megatron thought as he reached out a hand and carefully laid it on the violet glowing lens sitting next to him, the dark energon was the least of his problems. Like he'd hinted to Starscream a handful of orns ago, he already had a plan in place. Soundwave was still ferreting out the means to achieve his goals, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be long now before he found what he was looking for.

A shudder went through the Decepticon lord's powerful frame making his optics turn unerringly towards the lens. He could feel its power sitting there, just under his fingertips. Like a whisper in his auditor, he could hear it, just like he'd heard it halfway cross the galaxy. It _wanted _to be used. It _wanted _to assist him in his plans for Cybertron. And it was sitting right there, within his grasp and ready for the taking…

Cautiously, Megatron drew his hand back. He was not afraid of consuming the dark energon like some of his soldiers were. He rolled his optics and vented a disdainful snort at the very thought. No he was not _afraid _of this tool in front of him because that's all it was; an immensely powerful tool. However that didn't mean he was going to limit himself to just one course of action by taking the dark energon.

But he wanted it. He wanted it badly. And when the time was right he would have it, but only when _he_ decided to. No one else. _Especially_ not some near mythological lens that had recently spent more time _off_ planet then not.

Megatron narrowed his optics further at the lens, at once wanting its power and detesting the fact that he wanted it so badly.

A moment later he shook his head. He would deal with this when Soundwave finally found the lens' partnering hardware. Right now he had other, more pressing, matters to resolve.

What Megatron really needed was something finite, something decisive, to use as a final blow to end the war. Dark energon had its place in this blow, he could feel it, but he still needed something that would crush the Autobots once and for all. Something that the Autobots couldn't recover from. Something they could _never _recover from…

A thought bloomed in the back of Megatron's processor, a small, dark, dangerous thought. He listened to it, and as soon as he did he couldn't stop thinking about it. He turned the small thought over and over in his mind, analyzing it from every angle until all of the rough corners had been smoothed over, all the seams tightened so they couldn't be undone once this thought turned into action.

Slowly, Megatron straightened up in his chair. _"Yes,"_ he thought as the tiny thought became something much more expansive, _"yes of course!"_

It was so brilliantly simple. So remarkably easy…

Why hadn't he thought of it before?

He shook his head again. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that it worked.

Of course if it didn't, if Prime and his Autobots found a way to stop him…then all of Cybertron could die, dragging all of them along with it.

Megatron shook his head, shaking the thought away. The war was doing that anyway. The only difference between now and if his plan failed (and Megatron already had several contingencies in play to ensure that it wouldn't) was that right now their death was slow, drawn out by both sides' unwillingness to out right kill the thing they were fighting over. But if something went wrong, death would come a whole lot swifter.

Megatron narrowed his optics at the empty space in front of him. Death was preferable to Autobot rule but still, he must plan this last blow carefully if he wanted it to work as it should.

Cycles later a sudden ping interrupted Megatron's thoughts.

"What?!" The Decepticon leader snapped into his comm.

The burst of static that always came with transmissions sent from deep underground told Megatron who it was before the other mech even spoke.

"Lord Megatron," Soundwave's voice sounded distant and tiny across the channel, but as deep as he was buried in the planet Megatron knew it was a miracle he could hear him at all. No other bot would have been able to open a coherent channel from this position.

There was another small burst of static, but to Megatron it felt like ages before his lieutenant was able to send him the confirmation he had been waiting orns to hear.

"_Kzzt_- I've – _shaaa_ – found it."

For a moment Megatron was still. The a wide, gruesome smile split his face.

"Excellent, retrieve the chamber and return to base." He snapped across the channel. He didn't wait for Soundwave to acknowledge his command before ending the communication line and rising from his throne.

There was no hesitation now as he picked up the lens and scrutinized it, small, knowing smile still in place. The lens glowed stronger as he turned it this way and that as he thought.

"I know what it is you want," Megatron suddenly said into the silence of the empty room, his optics never shying away from the lens, "I can see it, every time I look at you. I see the destruction of worlds in your surface, the whole galaxy in chaos around you and only you are in control. You gain order from their anarchy, it gives you power." He added quickly before narrowing his optics at the lens in his hand. "I understand all that…" he trialed off.

"Now what I don't know," he continued on, refusing to ask himself who he was even talking to, "is if you carry some sentience within yourself," he twisted the lens again to peer at it from a new angle, "or if you are only a piece of a whole like the stories say. If you really are a piece of Unicron," he unconsciously lifted the lens a little higher to peer at its concaved underside, "and if it's his power that is giving my soldiers this mad strength," he lowered the lens again and eyed it thoughtfully, "or if you are just some piece of an ancient experiment like Shockwave seems to think you are.

"Not that I care." He added as he reached out and carefully dropped the lens into the ration of energon sitting next to him on a small table. It hit the side of the square container with a small 'plink' as the thick, green liquid around it turned the same clear, burning violet as the lens.

"Because, at this particular moment-" Megatron said, voice somewhat hushed as he removed the lens and carefully picked up the glass, "-we both want the same thing."

For a moment the only sound in the room was the slight fizzing of the newly transformed energon. And then a curdling grin slowly slid across Megatron's faceplates.

"To parallel desires," he murmured, inclining his head slightly towards the lens before going to drink the dark energon.

The sudden swoosh of the door opening interrupted him before he could.

Furious at being interrupting, Megatron turned bright red optics on the intruder.

A mech he only vaguely remembered as being one of Shockwave's higher underlings stood in the doorway. From the look on his face he was only now wondering if maybe he should have knocked first before appearing unannounced before his lord.

Disdainfully, Megatron looked the other bot up and down, noting the highly polished red paint and stylized frame structure. He was a vain one obviously, but the sharp digits and the energon spatter he had hastily tried to remove from the front of his chassis made Megatron think that maybe this one wasn't completely useless.

"If this isn't important Knock Out then you're going to wish you had jumped into the smelter yourself." Megatron said sharply, abruptly remembering the other mech's name. "Now what is it?"

"Sir!" Knock Out snapped to a kind of nervous attention. And then unfortunately he forgot what he was going to say. "Er, Lord Megatron, Shockwave, um-"

"Get to the point!" Megatron snapped.

"Yes Lord Megatron," Knock Out said quickly before, mercifully, remembering his message, "I was instructed to tell you that the dark energon test subject has finally gone offline. It seems his internal systems were too fried from the substance for normal energon to save him," he said, optics suddenly landing on the violet energon his leader was holding. He quickly cleared his vocal processor. "Er, Shockwave thought that you should know."

Megatron narrowed his optics at the smaller mech. How like Shockwave to disrupt him at a time like this. "Is that all?" He asked spitefully.

"Well," Knock Out hesitated, optics flicking to the floor and then back towards his lord again, "ah, yes."

"I see," Megatron muttered before flapping a hand dismissively towards the stuttering bot, "then leave." He went to drink the dark energon again.

"Lord Megatron!" Knock Out gasped, "You're not actually thinking of ingesting that poison," he said, and then added in an uncertain voice, "are you?"

Megatron leveled a gaze at Knock Out that could have razed CrystalCity to the ground – again. Knock Out fidgeted nervously, but didn't move from his place in the doorway.

Megatron didn't let his surprise show on his face. He had expected the conceited mech to slink away like a turbo-hound with its tail tucked between its legs. But the other bot stood his ground. He even managed to speak after another moment.

"Sir the dark energon is still largely untested. It could still be just as dangerous to whoever drinks it as the Autobots they crush. The test subject-"

He got no further. "Was weak!" Megatron barked out, tired of hearing Knock Out's excuses. "If you are implying that after vorns of surviving on the battlefield I will be wiped out by my own weapon Knock Out-"

Knock Out had enough sense to backtrack. "No!" He shouted. Apparently his instincts for self preservation were just as hardwired into him as his self-importance. "I mean, o-of course not Lord Megatron. I only meant that, well, once you convert to dark energon, there's no going back." He found enough courage still in him to look up at his leader. "How do you know you will survive in the long run?"

Megatron vented a superior grunt before answering. "Because I will always survive." He growled.

If Knock Out had any more reservations, he didn't dare voice them out loud.

Megatron held his cube of violet energon high in the air like a victory toast. "To world conquest!" He called out loudly, his words echoing in the high ceiling above him. And then with an insatiable expression on his faceplates that could have been construed as a smile, Megatron downed the dark energon in one go, letting its power skyrocket through his systems, bolstering his power, wiping out weaknesses he hadn't even been aware of before now.

Knock Out stood silently by, holding back his uncertain groan as his leader's optics were suddenly flooded with violet.

...

The evening after Aria's little show was a _whole_ lot quieter then the rec room had been that afternoon. Most of the bots that had seen her display of sisterly abrasion had returned to their usual routines, although they all still snickered about it every now and then. Well, except for Val and Bumblebee, who were off sulking ashamedly in a corner somewhere.

A faint twinge of guilt crept up on Aria, but it was quickly smashed by her lingering anger. _"They knew better!"_ She thought loudly. _"I mean, what are they trying to do? Make sure I'll be alone the rest of my life?!"_

She shook her head and decidedly put the whole ordeal out of her mind. She had better things to focus on right now.

She turned and smiled at her companion as he held a chair out for her. "Thanks Nat," she said as she sat, blushing slightly at the treatment. The only other people that had ever held a chair out for her were her Great-Grandpa Earl who had died some years before she and Sera had been sucked up by the space bridge, and Charlie Jones, who had been her date to senior prom. And that last one hadn't gone over so well when Charlie had stepped on her dress, made her trip, and sent them both careening face first into the fancy-schmancy butter plate.

Fortunately Nathanial had better balance then skinny Charlie Jones and Aria got into her seat without mishap. But not before her date reached over and kissed the back of her hand with a sly grin. "You look beautiful tonight Aria." He told her before sitting down at the table across from her.

Aria bit her lip to try and keep in the girly-sounding giggle, but some of it escaped anyway. She felt her face start to burn, but the answering lopsided, goofy smile on Nathanial's face made her feel better about it.

She adjusted the folds of her skirt as Nathanial took his seat across from her. It had taken _ages_ (ages where Elita and Chromia had been next to _no_ help at all helping her pick out what to wear) but Aria had _finally _found something she didn't outright hate at the moment. Fortunately all that fussing over her closet seemed to be paying off.

"Thanks," she murmured, somewhat embarrassed as she fiddled with her skirt again. Then she quickly cleared her throat and looked back up at the table. "So what's all this then?" She asked, nodding at the dinner spread out between them. "And where in the world did you find human sized plates?"

Nathanial grinned, slightly sheepish. "I didn't." He admitted. "They're actually those caps that you put over electrical wires, but I figured you were tired of eating standing up all the time so," he gestured at the small table set with plates, cups, and even some colored paper in the middle that had been folded up to look like flowers, "I improvised."

Aria lifted her plate a little to peek at the underside and saw that it was bright red plastic with the top painted white.

She laughed.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" She asked herself, shooting her date a grin. She didn't know it, but to Nat it was nothing less then mischievous.

"So not that I'm complaining about real food," Aria said as they started eating, "but why the special treatment? Is there some fancy occasion I don't know about?"

Nathanial made a face as he rolled what looked like a pea only white around on his plate. "Sort of," he told her, "subspace is great and all for storing food, but eventually they do go bad."

"And that dead line is coming up?" Aria guessed.

Nathanial nodded. "I'm afraid so, but I figured that if it was all going to mold anyway," he gestured at the dinner with an arm, "then we might as well go out with a bang."

Aria laughed and raised her glass across the table. It was only water, but it was still the thought that counted. "I'll drink to that." She told him with a grin.

The glasses clinked lightly when they tapped them together. As she took what she hoped was a delicate sip from the glass, she realized she was glad it wasn't actually wine. She had never tried it for one thing and she already felt lightheaded as it was. She still could hardly believe that this was happening. That she was here, on a date, with her first _real_ boyfriend.

"I was thinking about asking Peg to get us out of the city since you've never left," Nathanial spoke as he put his own glass down, "but I figured you'd had enough of transwarping for one lifetime." He gave her a crooked grin, hoping she couldn't see how nervous he was. He had never met a girl like Aria back home (which might explain why he wasn't married when most other men his age were, although Peg would have said it was his 'oh so charming personality' that kept the girls at bay) and he desperately didn't want to screw things up.

But Aria didn't laugh, just tilted her head and frowned slightly. "Who told you that?" She asked in confusion.

Nathanial blinked. "Well no one. Only you looked a little green when we came out of the transwarp portal even though you laughed-"

"No," Aria stopped him, "I meant who told you I'd never been out of the city? I've been out lots of times."

A small crease appeared between Nathanial's eyebrows. "Really? It's just that I've hardly seen you leave the building, much less the city." He told her.

Aria fidgeted slightly, aware that they were getting uncomfortably close to some personal ground, although Nathanial didn't appear to notice. "Well, yeah, I haven't left _recently_." She told him, looking away self consciously. "But I've left the city before. I've been to the Space Bridge and Crystal City. Even Kaon once, though I definitely don't want to relive _that_ experience." She tried to laugh to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

Nathanial still didn't quite understand. "But the Decepticons-" he started to say.

Aria drew herself up, somewhat irritated that he thought so little of her self defense abilities. "I'm sorry," she said, sounding miffed, "but who saved who this afternoon?"

Nathanial didn't look convinced. "Yes, but that was Val and Bumblebee. They would never actually _hurt_ you."

Aria had to admit he had a point. "Well I can still take care of myself. Even against big bad Decepticons. You're not the _only_ one that's fought in a war." She told him and immediately regretted that she had opened _that _door.

Nathanial tried to figure out what to say to that. "But," he stuttered in obvious disbelief, "how?"

Aria grinned, a slight edge to it that said she wasn't all back to good humor yet. "Pressure points mainly. And good aim. Prowl and Ratchet taught me the first mostly. And Ironhide's a better teacher then you would think at first. He taught Arcee'n me both." She shrugged before adding sheepishly, "although Arcee is definitely a better shot then I am."

Nathanial stared at her for a second before he shook himself. "Sorry," he apologized, leaning forward a little, "it's just I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around you taking down full sized Decepticons." He admitted.

Aria frowned. "Why?" She asked, the temperature of her voice dropping a few degrees even as her pitch went up slightly.

"Well," Nathanial said, quickly rethinking the phrasing of his answer, "it's just…you're _you_." He said, gesturing at her slight form and pretty clothes with both hands.

Aria scowled at him. "Don't tell me you're one of those guys that thinks girls are only good for cooking and cleaning." She said darkly.

"No," Nathanial cut in firmly, "that's not what I meant."

"Well then what did you mean?" Aria demanded.

"I meant," Nathanial slowly, trying hard to keep the aggravation out of his voice, "that every time I've heard someone mention you going outside of Iacon, you look terrified."

Aria's eyes drifted to the floor as the annoyance suddenly drained out of her, leaving her looking smaller then before.

"Oh," she mumbled, "that."

Nathanial waited, not sure what to do next.

Finally Aria sighed. "Look," she said somewhat snappishly, "I'm not helpless okay? And I'm pretty dang good at finding things for some reason, so I used to go out on search and rescue missions when they needed me. But last time I went outside some-" she swallowed hard, "some bots that I cared about a lot died and I couldn't save them. I told Optimus I didn't think I was fit for that kind of work anymore and since by then melee battles were beginning to take over as the main way to fight, he agreed. But then, I know he never liked the idea of me out there. Always afraid I'd get stepped on or something, you know?" She threw a grin at Nathanial, but even she could feel there was no heart in it.

She quickly looked away again. "I haven't been out since then."

Nathanial frowned a little in thought. He had been a solider most of his adult life and he knew that something like that – being allowed not to go into battle just because you _asked_ – wasn't just impossible, it was ridiculous. You could be scared all you liked as long as you followed though on your orders. Orders were law and fighting wasn't an option when peace-time was broken.

However-

Across the table Nathanial sighed quietly. As a solider he couldn't quite comprehend being in Aria's position, however he had never heard of woman – or any human to be fair – in Aria's position before. In this land of warring titans, Aria had more of a middle ground, with one foot in both worlds, so to say. Something Nathanial had never had never even imagined before. And with that he _could _at least appreciate that Aria's position as a fighter was more…precarious then most.

Nat's eyebrows twitched together in confusion. "What happened?" He asked carefully.

Aria twisted her fingers together under the table where he couldn't see. "It's not exactly date material." She told him.

Nathanial just reached out and took her hand, dark eyes never leaving her anxious face. "I'm willing to listen if you're willing to talk about it." He told her.

Aria glanced up and saw his earnestness.

She sighed and hoped she wouldn't cry as the words just started to tumble out her mouth.

"It was back when Bumblebee and the others were still young," she told him suddenly, "he and Val were the only younglings left in Iacon then. The rest were scattered about Autobot held space to keep Megatron from finding them. Arcee was with the femmes, Cloudraker was with his guardian Cloudcover, Fastlane with Smokerunner," she looked away again as her fingers started fiddling with the makeshift table cloth, "and Skids and Mudflap were with their guardian Treehugger."

Nathanial's eyes narrowed slightly in thought. He knew Aria had seven brothers on Cybertron, including Bluestreak, but still, he had never heard her mention the last two before.

He resisted the urge to interrupt Aria with the questions bottling up in his head and let her continue in peace. If she had been aware of it, Aria would have felt grateful. As it was, she just rubbed the back of her hand with one forefinger and didn't look up from the floor off to her side.

"They were twins and the smallest once Bumblebee grew into his frame some." She snorted a teary sounding laugh as a desperate smile tried to tug at her lips. "They were such brats." She told him as the smile died.

Nathanial held onto her hand and waited in silence.

"There was uh," she stuttered trying to keep her voice under control, "There was this one Decepticon back then, called Makeshift, that could reassemble his frame to look like other bots. You and I would call him a shape shifter. And he was so dang good at it," she told him as the fury began to creep in at the edges of her words, "that he managed to sucker us into thinking he was Ratchet and fooling Bee and Val into following him out of the city.

"I went after them as soon as I learned they were gone. I caught up with them out in that debris field you said you appeared in when you were warped to Cybertron. Now I thought Makeshift was still Ratchet and that he was trying to protect them from some danger I didn't know about. Only Makeshift didn't know that. He thought I had found him out, so when I showed up, he instantly drops the act and pulls a gun on Bumblebee."

Aria's eyes flicked up to Nathanial's and he blinked in surprise when he saw what he could only think to call a battle hardened edge to her beautiful blue eyes. He hadn't known she was capable of that look.

"Needless to say, this was _not_ what I had thought would happen. Before my logic brain could talk me out of it, I attacked him with my rope and grapple, that thing I used to jump out of the ceiling with when we were after Sideswipe and Sunstreaker." She clarified for him.

Nathanial nodded. "I remember. And that's what you use to get at their pressure points?" He asked, curious.

Aria nodded once sharply. "Yeah," she mumbled, "I must have surprised him because he didn't even try and block the first blow. I managed to get the hook in that gap at his wrist and damaged some of the sensitive wiring there. He dropped the gun and I yelled at 'Bee and Val to run."

She came out of her memory induced stupor just enough to shake her head. "I don't remember some stuff after that. Only running like the Unmaker himself was after us between the wreck and ruin around there. Bumblebee's paint was so bright that I managed to keep him in my line of sight all the time, but somewhere along the way we got separated from Val.

"By then we were surrounded by broken buildings and I couldn't hear Makeshift anywhere near us, so I got 'Bee to hide away in one of the gaps between two walls that had fallen against each other. I told him to stay in there and not come out for anybody, not even Optimus. Only for Bluestreak and me."

"Why Bluestreak?" Nathanial asked.

Aria's blue eyes flicked up to him briefly and Nathanial noticed that some of the flint had left them. "Because he was still half the size of a full grown bot, even though Prowl had cleared him for active duty. Makeshift's disguise is the best, not a physical difference between him and the original. He can even do voices like you wouldn't believe. But he can't make himself smaller then his original frame. At least not by much. So the only Bluestreaks and Arias walking around would be the originals. So I figured he would be safe with one of us."

Nathanial nodded. "Ah."

Aria wiped at one eye with the back of her hand, the one Nathanial wasn't holding. "I left him there," she said, voice a little rougher then before. "He looked so small and scared…"

She sniffed and quickly rubbed her eyes again, inwardly hoping her next words didn't sound as defensive as she felt they were. "But I had to go find Val, make sure Makeshift hadn't caught him."

She paused and Nathanial nodded his encouragement to go on.

"He hadn't, thank Primus," she said in a tear stained voice, "but he did catch me while I was looking for him. Before I could fight back he had a hand wrapped around me and started squeezing me." She mimed the action in midair above the table, making Nathanial flinch. "I was starting to see black spots when Optimus and the others found us. They saved me, stunning Makeshift so that he dropped me, but before they could attack him in earnest, Makeshift looks at me, and then at Val hiding out behind what used to be an atrium of some sort.

"'Oh well,' I remember him saying, 'it's not like we didn't make the head count anyway.' And then he turned and ran."

Nathanial expected her to snort at the show of famed Decepticon bravery, but Aria didn't make any sort of sound as she stared at the floor, shoulders slumped in a dejected pose.

"When we got back, we heard the news that Decepticons had made attacks on all of the younglings. Cloudcover said Cloudraker was shaken up, but fine. Fastlane and Arcee were more angry at the attacks then anything," she smiled grimly at the memory but that quickly faded away. Nathanial watched as she swallowed hard. "The only attack that _didn't_ fail was the one on the twins. The Decepticons burned the base to the ground to get at them. Nobody came out of that."

She looked away, trying to hide the tears that were pooling in her eyes.

Nathanial watched sadly as she tried to wipe them away only to have more salt water take their place. "You blame yourself." It wasn't a question.

Aria nodded. "They, they were my brothers too," she stumbled a little, "they drove me crazy, but I loved them, and I wasn't," she gasped as the overflow in her eyes finally fell down her face, "I wasn't there for them when they needed me."

Nathanial watched her with understanding. She knew the words wouldn't be long in coming now. The ones that were supposed to make her feel better even though she knew there was nothing out there that could make this alright.

But he surprised her. He didn't tell her she was wrong, that there wasn't anything she could have done, or even that she had done the right thing by sticking with Val and Bumblebee instead like everyone else had tried to tell her. Instead Nathanial just came over and sat next to her before pulling her close, wrapping his arms around her as she started to cry.

Later she wasn't sure for how long she cried because for a long time the only thoughts in her head were about her lost brothers.

Eventually the tears died down and she just sat there quietly, trying to soak up the comfort Nathanial offered. It felt strange, being held by someone only a few inches taller then her after getting used to Optimus and the others, but it was a good kind of strange. One she thought she could get used to, given time.

When she couldn't stand having all that sadness running rampant in her chest any more, she somehow found the strength to lock it back in its box so she could continue living without breaking down every other orbit.

"Frag," Aria mumbled somewhat pathetically as she sat up on her own, away from Nat, "I just ruined our date didn't I?" She asked with a sniffle.

Nathanial looked over at the cold dinner sitting on the table next to them. "Well I can't say I thought it would turn out this way when I was planning it out in my head." He admitted.

Aria sniffled again and wiped her nose on her napkin. "Sorry," she mumbled sadly, "and it was such a nice idea too…"

They sat there looking disappointed for a moment, Aria in herself and Nat because he had hoped that this dinner would cheer Aria up, not bring her to tears.

His head snapped up as an idea crash landed in his head.

"How do you feel about picnics?" He asked suddenly.

Aria looked up at him. "Huh?"

...

"Oh," Aria murmured to herself a few minutes later and a few floors lower then where they had started, "_this_ kind of picnic. For a minute I thought you were suggesting we go outside. And after _that_ story I thought that was a little sadistic." She mumbled.

Nathanial looked up from where he had finished rearranging what remained of his perishable food out on the blanket Aria had stolen off of her bed. "No, but I thought that now would be as good a time as any to test out something I made recently."

Despite the cloud still hovering over her, Aria's curiosity started to get the best of her. "What something?" She asked.

Grinning like a little kid, Nathanial looked up just as Jazz and Wheeljack walked into the room behind Aria.

"Okay Nat, we got your message. We brought the…" Jazz looked at the device in his hand again and came up short, "thing." He finished.

Nathanial grinned excitedly. "Excellent!" He said before taking the machine in both arms and asking Wheeljack to help him set it up.

Aria crossed her arms over her chest, still cold inside after remembering that day so vividly in her mind.

"You, uh," she glanced up at Jazz standing next to her, "you know what's going on here?"

Jazz shrugged. "It's your date, not mine." He told her with a grin.

Aria rolled her eyes. "You're all going to be busy-bodies about my love life aren't you?" She asked incredulously.

Jazz's grin grew. "You only just now realized this?" He asked her with a friendly nudge of his elbow. "And let me tell you, after this afternoon," he grinned slyly at her, "_everyone's _curious now."

Aria rolled her eyes again and blew out half of a laugh. "Me and my big mouth," she said, feeling more like her normal self now.

In the middle of the large, empty room in front of her, Nathanial and Wheeljack finished hooking up the mystery machine into the wall. Then on the man's instructions, they set the device up on an upside down cup Wheeljack produced from a cabinet somewhere.

Aria frowned as Nathanial adjusted the machine, pointing it at the blank wall behind him. She hadn't noticed before because Jazz had been holding it upside down, but from this point of view it looked rather familiar…

"Hey," she called out curiously, "is that a projector?"

Nathanial looked up from where he had been fine tuning the lens set in the middle front of his machine and grinned sweetly at her. "Yes," he told her happily, glad she had figured it out. "I made this after you explained to me what a 'movie' was on Earth. And then Hound told me that you had a few on this device of yours," he held up the familiar pink form of her iPod, "and I figured that if this already had the moving pictures, then it wouldn't be too hard for me to make something that could project them onto a larger surface. And then Wheeljack gave me some of his spare parts to fiddle around with."

"After all that helped you gave me on the prototype ground bridge it was the least I could do." The engineer muttered, most of his attention on the wires he was sorting through.

Aria laughed softly as she took her mp3 player from Nathanial. "How does this thing keep turning up around here anyways?" She asked no one in particular before handing the iPod back to Nat.

"So does it work?" She asked him with a nod at his machine. It was largely box-shaped, with the projecting lens set into the front panel and a handle attached to the top. A haystack of wires sprung madly out of the back of the machine, which Wheeljack was still working to sort into some kind of order as he methodically plugged in the important ones.

Nathanial smiled at her as he took the iPod and hooked it into the handmade machine.

"Let's find out." He told her. "What do you want to watch?"

Aria bit her lip and looked over at him, thinking. She only had a few movies on here – along with every episode of Sailor Moon youtube had had to offer, just don't ask her why – and most of those were Disney movies. She thought about playing Atlantis, just for the fun of it, but then decided against it.

_"Maybe another time," _she thought deviously as she spun her finger around the touch pad until it landed on the title she wanted.

She hit play and a loud click echoed through the speakers Wheeljack had hooked the projector into.

"Well the sound works," he noted as the four of them watched the far wall for any signs of moving pictures.

For a long moment, the wall remained disappointingly white.

And then with a grand blast of trumpet music, the ornately written words, 'Lady and the Tramp' appeared on the wall.

Aria couldn't resist a giggle as the opening credits began to scroll across the white wall. "Looks like it works." She announced happily.

Even though moving pictures were something Nathanial had never seen before – and he was quite impressed that they appeared to be drawings at that rather then real people – he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from Aria's beaming face instead. It was nothing short of amazing, he thought, that she could still be so hopeful, even after all she'd suffered.

He smiled as he took her hand and led her back to the picnic they'd spread out on the floor. Jazz hit the lights as they made themselves comfortable, and then much to Nathanial's surprise, both he and Wheeljack did the same. Although he also noticed that they stayed a good distance away, giving the couple some space even as they settled in to watch the movie.

More bots crept in as the movie played, even well after Aria and Nathanial had finished eating and were just sitting on the blanket. Aria had her head on Nat's shoulder as she watched Tramp order spaghetti for two from Tony and Nathanial was more then happy not to disturb her, even though his arm was starting to fall asleep.

The two dogs were strolling through a star-lit park, pressing paw prints into wet cement when Aria suddenly sat up and kissed Nathanial's cheek.

"Thanks Nat," she whispered under the music where no one else could hear, "for everything."

Nathanial turned his head to look at her as the dark blue shadows of the movie reflected off of her skin, making it brighter in the dark and her eyes bluer by contrast.

"Any time," he told her, and he meant it.

They started to lean closer to each other as the soft notes of the chorus wound their way around them. Aria closed her eyes.

"Hey!" A harsh whisper suddenly ruined the mood and made the two humans jump like kids caught in a movie theater. Heart pounding, Aria twisted around to see Sunstreaker scowling at her from the back of the room where he sat with Sideswipe on one side and Tracks on the other. Farther down, Aria saw the familiar shapes of Arcee and Hound, with Bluestreak laying on his stomach and kicking his heels in the air next to them.

Sunny was still scowling at her. "This is _not_ a kissing movie! Keep your mouths to yourselves and your eyes on the screen cause _some_ of us here want to watch the movie!"

Sideswipe snickered next to him. "Gosh Sunny, it's not like you haven't seen it a hundred times already."

Sunny's scowl automatically slid towards his brother. "Mute it Sides." He grumbled, but nonetheless fell silent as he settled back against the wall to watch Lady and Tramp's walk through the park accompanied by their famous love song.

Aria quickly stuck her tongue out at the irritable bot before spinning back around before he could see her. She felt more then heard Nathanial laugh next to her.

Aria sat there stiffly. After being found out by Sunny (who of course then just had to announce her plans to _everyone in the room_) she felt rather awkward and shy. Was it still alright for her to lean on Nat? Did he want her there after that kind of Sunny-induced embarrassment?

As if he knew what she was thinking, Nathanial shifted next to her and carefully wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Aria looked over at him out from under her eyelashes to see him smiling somewhat shyly back at her. She couldn't help but grin a little.

The movie continued to play as she relaxed against his side, resting her head on his shoulder again as the final bars of the song drifted serenely through the room, giving them both a sense of quiet, star-lit peace.

_ "On this love~ly Bella Notte…"_


	24. Chapter 24: Wheeljack's Bubble Goes Boom

Ugh, it figures that the week I finally have a chapter ready for posting, _that _Tuesday turns out to be busy. *Sigh* Oh well I suppose. I had hoped to read this thing over again before I posted it, but if I do it won't be up until later tonight, and I don't want to do that. That and you guys have been so good to me already. I'm slow. I'm sorry. Now moving on.

Thank you to all the people that reviewed. Yay! I love you guys! You're the best! I honestly don't know what I would've done without you. Although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten _near_ this far with Aria's stories if you all weren't so supportive. So thank you, really.

Also, today's the last day to vote for some of the works in the writing contest I entered (mine included) so if you haven't voted and you want to then please make your way over to their site. The link is in my profile along with the names of my entries. I think the deadline cuts off at 2 a.m. my time (I'm in Texas so what is that? Central time? Not sure) But that makes it midnight pacific time and I have no idea what time that is along the east coast...

Anyway, I want to post this sucker already! Even if I am indecisive about the title...but I hope you like the chapter (and maybe not hate Val so much...it was pretty cool getting inside his head though...he's such a softie at spark :3) and that you'll tell me what you thought of it! Thanks you guys! Bye.

...

The Long Road Home

24 – Wheeljack's Bubble Goes Boom… – 24

Optimus woke to what sounded like someone banging on the inside of his head.

Even half asleep he felt he wasn't alone in the room. His first instinct was to go for his gun, but then reality sank in as he came fully out of recharge. He blinked, relaxing slightly as he recognized the familiar angles of his living quarters and the even more familiar frame of Elita still sleeping next to him.

The banging turned out to be the internal alarm that signaled an urgent message on his comm. channel. With a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan, Optimus opened the channel.

"What?" He grumbled at whoever was calling him at this hour. He checked the time and stifled another groan. He'd only gotten a few mega-cycles of recharge at the most.

"Prime!" Wheeljack shouted through the comm., making Optimus flinch at the blast of noise. "I've discovered something!" He exclaimed in excitement, as if this was something he'd never had the chance to say before.

Optimus resisted the sudden urge to shoot back a sarcastic, "Oh really?" Instead he carefully sat up, trying not to disturb Elita. At least one of them should get some rest.

"What did you find?" Optimus asked the excited engineer, hoping it wasn't something that could have waited until later.

"It works!" Wheeljack exclaimed loudly, not answering Optimus' question. "I mean my device works! It proves my theory that dark energon can be blocked off even when it's already in a bot's system!"

Optimus sat up a little straighter, shrugging off the fog lingering over his processor. That was worth the interrupted rest, if it worked.

"I'll be right there." He told the engineer before closing the channel.

"What did Wheeljack want?" Elita mumbled sleepily as Optimus swung his feet onto the floor.

Optimus half turned, surprised she was awake. "How'd you know it was Wheeljack?" He asked, still keeping his voice down.

Elita vented a sigh and rolled over on her side to face him. "Because he's not exactly quiet." She told him. "Now what'd he say?" She asked again.

Optimus tried not to get his hopes up – especially after all the dead ends they had all encountered since the war had started – but some of it managed to seep through. "He said he might have found a way to counteract the dark energon."

Elita's optics glowed brighter with interest.

"Dangit," she groaned as she sat up though, "that's actually important. And here I was hoping for some actual rest tonight." She grumbled half-heartedly.

Optimus smiled slightly in the dim room. If anyone else had been there he felt sure they would have pointed out that now was hardly the time for jokes. But then, there was never a time for jokes now, no matter how bad they were, so in the end it really didn't matter.

"I can look into this alone if you need more recharge." Optimus offered, even though he already had a good feeling about what Elita would say to that.

She sat up and frowned at him in the dark of the room. "Optimus Prime," she said in the voice she had used on Arcee whenever her youngest sister had been caught doing she knew she shouldn't be doing in the first place, "I've managed to survive this war just as long as you have, most of which, might I add, without you, so don't start trying to coddle me now."

She stared him down, as if waiting for some kind of answer. Optimus decided that now was probably _not_ the best time to give one.

Her sharp look suddenly softened slightly as she suddenly held out her hand more like a queen then a commander. "That being said please help me up." She told him, trying not to let go of her air of injured dignity quite yet and not getting very far with it.

"I thought you just said you didn't need me?" Optimus pointed out.

"No," Elita told him, "I said I could survive this war without you." She looked down, voice going soft as whatever offense she had felt suddenly fled. "I never said I liked it." She added.

Optimus blinked slowly at her in the dark room. Then without a word he reached out and wrapped a hand around Elita's to help pull her to her feet. She stood up with a tired sigh and made to leave the room, but before she could let go he leaned down and put a kiss on her hand, the small electric current making her fingers twitch a little.

"I missed you too Elita." He told her.

The femme sighed, not an unhappy sound. "Now don't start," she told him, but she was smiling at him as she did, "we're already going to be late. Wheeljack's probably about to start coming apart at the seams as it is. And besides," she added with a slightly more crooked grin, "you're too distracting."

She disentangled her hand from his and walked to the door. It opened with a small noise as she turned and waited for him to catch up.

Optimus stared at her a moment standing in the open door. "I'm too distracting?" He asked with a little too much incredulity to be real. "Me? You're the one that started it." He said as he crossed the room and both of them walked out into the empty hallway.

"Me?" Elita laughed. "What are you talking about? You most definitely started this."

"No, I remember quite clearly it was you."

"Oh really?" Elita asked, propping her hands on her hips as she stared at him. "When?"

"When you appeared out of the blue at my door." He told her with a knowing sort of nod as they continued walking down to Wheeljack's lab.

"Your door-?" Elita started to say in confusion. She had been in the room first tonight and the fact that he'd been living here longer hardly made it _his_ door-

"Wait," she said, suddenly realizing what he meant. "You mean back before the war had started. When we first met? _That_ door?"

Optimus nodded again. "If I remember right you couldn't take your optics off me," he said playfully with just a hint of pride.

Elita laughed at him and prodded his side. "Like you're one to talk," she teased, "and if _I_ remember right I wasn't even there to see you so…" she trailed off with a sly smile.

They went back and forth the rest of the way through the building, finding it easier to speak when everyone else was either recharging or out on official business. Somewhere along the way their hands became entangled again but neither of them appeared to notice. But from the outside it was difficult to tell if that was just because it felt so natural to them or if it was actually the only thing they were inwardly aware of.

...

"Well Wheeljack," Optimus said once he and Elita reached Wheeljack's well guarded laboratory, "what have you found?"

It took the engineer a minute to answer him, and even then it was only with some half-intelligible babble, although that might have been because the mech was currently neck deep in a rat's nest of tangled up wires.

"His excitement got the best of him again," Elita mumbled as the engineer tried to hop his way over to the scissors sitting innocently on a counter across the room so he could cut himself out. All he ended up doing though was falling on his face with a loud crash and _OOF!_ Then there was a mild, panicked screech as the scissors fell point first off the counter before anyone could stop them.

Optimus just nodded.

Wheeljack reappeared a split second later, scissors still quivering in the floor. On their way down they had cut him free…by cutting the main wire a spare inch or so from the engineer's nose.

The white mech swayed uneasily on one foot before he remembered what balance was and why it was important in society at large.

Optimus sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, hoping to stop the headache he felt coming on. "Wheeljack, when's the last time you recharged?" He asked wearily.

"Dark energon!" Was the engineer's instant reply.

"Primus," Elita grumbled, "I'm calling Ratchet."

Wheeljack immediately shook himself. "No! Just wait a cycle. I meant that I've found a way of counteracting dark 'cons." He explained, some of his sanity returning.

Elita slid him a look that clearly said she questioned just how long this dip into sanity would last given Wheeljack's questionable sleep schedule, but she postponed that call to Ratchet anyway.

Wheeljack relaxed, seeing the femme commander take her hand away from her comm. unit.

"Right," he said, not as nervously as before, "so I was thinking about what Moonracer had said after Ratch' showed us that model of dark energon being a cannibal – you remember that one right? Creepy. Anyway," he moved on quickly seeing Elita's look start to darken warningly, "so I was thinking about what she said about using containment fields on dark energon and I thought, "Well why not? It should work as long as you compensate for the incorporation into the host frame and-"

"The point Wheeljack." Optimus snapped slightly. It was still too early for this conversation.

The inventor stared at him a brief, confused moment before understanding made his optics and his ear fins glow brighter a moment. "Huh? Oh, right, sorry. So to boil it all down real quick," he said eagerly as she crossed the room to where a large, oblong object was sitting under a sheet on top of one of the numerous countertops in Wheeljack's lab. He was probably grinning behind his welding mask as he laid his hands on the sheet and then with a dramatic flip, swept it away from his new invention.

"_This_," he said proudly, "is the point!"

With the sheet gone, the Autobot commanders suddenly found themselves staring at a rather bizarre looking gun. Vaguely oblong in shape, it had two different scopes (with who knew what kind of purpose given their creator and all), and a bulb at the far end with a wide, circular mouth easily as wide as Optimus' hand. Miscellaneous buttons and a control panel or two graced the side, for what function remained to still be seen. Overall it _looked_ like something Wheeljack would make.

It also looked suspiciously like an overgrown bubble blower.

From the way Wheeljack was beaming at it he obviously thought it was brilliant. "So what do you think? Ain't it great?" The way his ear fins blinked so gosh darn happily said that the only answer he was expecting to that question was a resounding, "Heck yeah!"

Optimus and Elita shared a sidelong look, each silently asking the other if they knew what to make of Wheeljack's new creation. Both came up clueless.

"How…" Optimus dared to ask first, "does it, uh, work?"

"I'm glad you asked," Wheeljack said as he held up an educational finger (and he genuinely was) "This gun shoots a specialized containment field," Wheeljack answered, "that when compressed down to the right level, can actually enter a bot's frame. Some simple calculations in forming the field allow it to seek out the greatest deposit of dark energon in the body before it expands, surrounding the foreign element – the dark energon here of course – and cutting it off from the bot using it, rendering its power null and void."

Two sets of optic ridges rose in matching looks of understanding.

"Devious." Elita murmured as she looked at Wheeljack's new weapon again, this time more thoughtfully then before.

Wheeljack's head fins glowed shyly as he scuffed a foot against the floor and fidgeted in embarrassment. "Thanks. I try."

Optimus was still eyeing the new weapon warily. This wasn't the first thing the engineer had made after all. "Is it…stable?" He asked.

Wheeljack blinked at him as if he wasn't quite sure what his leader was asking him, or maybe as if he had no idea what the word 'stable' meant at all.

"Oh," he eventually said, "stable, sure, sure. It's perfectly stable." Wheeljack said with a dismissive sound. "For a minute I thought you were asking if it was _safe_." He laughed, as if this was a perfectly fine thing to mishear.

Optimus and Elita shared another look, this one somewhat more worried then before.

"Er, right," Optimus said slowly, "well then make sure you tell us the moment you have a working prototype ready and we'll just-"

Wheeljack stood up a little straighter. "But this _is_ a working prototype."

Elita, who had been giving the weapon a closer inspection, suddenly took a large step back. "It is?" She asked, sounding startled.

Wheeljack nodded happily. "Yes of course. I wouldn't have asked you to come down at this hour for just a _theory_. This is my first prototype. I've been working on it nonstop ever since you showed us that ingot thing."

Elita's optics narrowed as a shiver slid down her spine at the mention of the violet ingot Moonracer had found. She still had nightmares about those reflections she had seen in it.

"So," Wheeljack said as he hefted the bubble-machine onto his shoulder, oblivious to femme commander's thoughts, "shall we test this baby out or what?" He asked as he walked over to the side of the lab where he'd set up a target for practice runs with new weapons.

Optimus eyed the new gun dubiously as Wheeljack set it against his shoulder and peered at the target first through one scope, and then the other. "Is this the first time you'll have fired it Wheeljack?" He asked, just to be sure.

Wheeljack looked up from the scope. "Yes. Why?" He asked innocently enough.

"…no reason." Optimus finally answered. Then when Wheeljack turned back to the machine, he and Elita tactfully retreated to the other side of the lab.

Wheeljack went on with his fiddling. "Alright, so I've set up some of that dark energon with the target dummy over there," he jerked his chin at the practice dummy as he confidently turned dials and readjusted numbers on the side of his prototype bubble-gun, "so we'll see how the containment fields react to its presence. In 3," he started counting as he finished his final checks and settled the butt of the gun against his shoulder and took aim, "2-1-Fire!"

There was a screeching blast, like a super nova in reverse, as something small and bright shot out of the mouth of the prototype, leaving a line of golden light in its wake, almost like a sunspot left behind by a too bright light.

Whatever left the line traveled too fast for the optic to follow, but it hit the dummy with a sound like that left behind by a broken sound barrier, even though the dummy itself hardly rocked back on its foundation.

For a long silent moment afterwards, nothing happened. Optimus began to think that Wheeljack's new prototype had simply failed.

But that was before the dummy's chest suddenly swelled outward and exploded, like a popped balloon only with ten thousand times the force. All three bots ducked as plastic debris came flying at them.

Optimus sighed heavily while he was still crouched down to the ground to avoid anymore projectiles. He had honestly hoped that Wheeljack had been on to something there.

"It was a good try Wheeljack-" he started to say as he carefully straightened up, Elita doing the same next to him.

"Try nuthin'!" Wheeljack shouted as he started jumping in place. "Did you see that?! It works! It really works!"

Optimus frowned at the inventor. Elita looked somewhat confused. "Was the point to _make _the dark energon explode then?" She asked, somewhat sarcastically, as she watched the engineer leap and jump around the room, occasionally throwing an excited fist into the air.

"No! Course not. But it worked anyway! See for yourself." Wheeljack said, too giddy in victory to hear the doubt and sarcasm in the other Autobots' voices.

Elita and Optimus did so, expecting to see the remains of a half blown up dummy. And that _was_ there…

Only there was also a spherical containment field floating about chest high off the ground, a glimmer of sick violet fuming silently at its center.

"By Primus," Elita murmured in surprise, "it really _did_ work."

Wheeljack was too busy jumping to hear her surprise. "I know!" He laughed. "And with a little recalibration, they won't even explode next time!" The inventor crowed.

The other Autobots shared a small grin. It wasn't a usual boast, to say the least.

"How long will the recalibrations take?" Optimus asked, more hopeful then a moment ago.

Wheeljack stopped his jumping and started counting something in his head, ticking off fingers silently as he went. "Not long," he finally answered, "maybe a few mega-cycles or so-whoa." He gasped as he went to lean a hand on the nearby countertop and missed it, nearly falling over before he managed to grab the counter and re-steady himself.

Elita vented a sigh. "Better make it longer. You some rest before you do anything else to that bubble gun." She told him.

Wheeljack frowned at her. "It's called a Wheeljack's Internal Immersion Containment Generator-" he started to say.

Elita quickly held up a hand to stop him. "If you don't go and get some recharge then I'm calling Ratchet."

Wheeljack looked away, furtively pressing his index fingers together. Ratchet had already been on his case about recharge this past orn. And somehow the engineer didn't think that a call from Elita-One would fix anything. Mainly because the old medic already thought Wheeljack was in his room recharging right now.

"Hmm…" Wheeljack hummed guiltily, "maybe fooling that tracker he put on me wasn't such a good idea after all…" he mumbled to himself under his breath.

Elita frowned at him. "What?"

Wheeljack looked up, only now reminded that they were still watching him. "I, er, I said Ratchet's already out of sleeping agents." What he didn't tell them was he was out because Wheeljack had put the last of them in the old medic's energon last orn to make sure Ratchet obeyed his own 'recharge-is-irreplaceable' rule.

The femme commander leveled a flat look at the engineer and crossed her arms over her chest. "Wheeljack, you're his best friend. You've known him longer then probably anyone else in Iacon. Do you _really_ think he would give them to you anyway?"

Wheeljack looked away. _"Not under these circumstances, no." _He thought safely to himself.

Out loud he just said, "Point taken. I'll get some shut eye before I recalibrate the containment fields any."

Elita nodded in victory. "There. I knew you'd see reason." She frowned at him. "Eventually."

Wheeljack grinned at her nervously. "Yeah, well, the death-by-best-friend threats helped a little too." He mumbled with a nervous laugh.

Optimus was still preoccupied by the containment field hovering in mid air. The dark energon at its heart seemed to flicker and writhe, as if testing the boundaries of its imprisonment. Then, finding there were no seams for it to exploit and break open, it hunkered down, like a cyber-cat on its haunches, and sat brooding in the field.

Optimus shook himself. Maybe Wheeljack wasn't the only one that needed more recharge, he thought to himself. Dark energon was an inanimate, if not powerful, substance. It was illogical to compare it to something that had life and will of its own. He was only imagining things.

_"And now I sound like Prowl…" _Optimus thought with a weary sigh.

"Just tell me when you've got the kinks worked out of the blaster Wheeljack. We need to find a way to combat the dark cons before they begin their attack in earnest again. Whatever Megatron is doing, it seems he's pulled back his darkened troops for the moment."

Elita bit at her thumb as she frowned in thought. "Which does nothing to make me feel any better." She mumbled, staring at the ruined test dummy without seeing it.

Optimus and Wheeljack nodded their agreement, but it was the engineer that spoke. "Right. It'll be my top priority until I've got it sorted out. Although from the preliminary tests," he gestured vaguely at the trapped violet energon and the data pads filled with equations and variables and numbers scattered across every available surface his lab had to offer, "it looks like there isn't too much left to modify before it's ready for field testing." He told them.

Optimus narrowed his optics at the dark energon sitting quietly at the other end of the room. Imagination or not, he still felt that the thing was watching him, waiting for him to fumble so it could leap on him, rending his mind and spark with whatever weapons it was that it fought with.

The large mech shoved away the disconcerting thoughts and repressed a shudder. _"Nothing good came from thinking like that," _he told himself, _"it still isn't alive."_

With some effort, he turned away from the dark energon and back to where Wheeljack and Elita were watching him, one more worriedly then the other.

"Good." Optimus muttered. "But still, it might prove advantageous to hurry. Something tells me Megatron won't stay quiet for much longer."

Elita felt her optic ridges crease together in thought. She couldn't tell if that sounded more like one of the insights she was prone to or if it was just instinct on her mate's part. Either way, she didn't disagree with him. Megatron had never been patient exactly.

Across from the pair, Wheeljack only nodded, offering no opinion on Optimus' grave words. "You got it Prime. One anti-dark-energon weapon coming up."

...

Later in the morning found Aria waiting for an elevator to come pick her up on level seven, which was reserved for sparring spaces and the shooting range. Usually she avoided this level unless she was looking for someone, but after her conversation with Nat last night, and the memories of Makeshift and losing the twins that had come with it, she had decided that maybe it was high time she stopped hiding from the war waging outside Iacon's city limits.

The digital pad beside the elevator doors stopped moving as the lift stopped at level three, and then after a minute went back down to the first floor.

"Ah come on," Aria muttered to herself. She was hot and her rope and grapple felt heavier at her side then it had when she had first come up. She only been up here about an hour, maybe a little more, but it was enough that some of the finesse she'd lost with the whip like weapon had returned near the end of her practice session.

Aria reached up and wiped the back of her hand along her forehead as another drop of sweat tickled her as it ran down towards her eye. Nervously she looked back and forth along the corridor, but it was still empty. Despite everything, she still felt out of place being up here. After all, what could she honestly hope to contribute with her small size and questionable strength?

She tried not to think about that as she started bouncing anxiously in place. "Come on elevator, come on. I don't have all day. Prowl wants me sorting reports in a mega-cycle and I want to get a shower in before I show up."

Unlike most machines in Iacon, the elevator didn't hear her and therefore didn't care what she said to it.

Aria gave a great aggravated sigh. Then turned when she heard footsteps coming up the hall behind her.

She turned to see who it was, and then just as quickly turned back, hoping whoever it was wouldn't notice her standing stiffly in front of the elevator.

"Come on, come on," she muttered, wiggling anxiously in place.

Behind her the footsteps grew louder and a pair of deep, male voices joined them. Aria glanced up at the digital pad that showed the elevator's current location. Level 5 it said.

Unable to stand it any longer, Aria briefly glanced over her shoulder to see who it was that was coming.

The familiar frames of Ironhide and Hound appeared around the corner. As they headed towards the door for the main practice area, Ironhide caught Aria's eye. She quickly turned back around, but not before she saw the semi-confused look in his optics.

The ding of the elevator arriving saved her from having to turn back around. The doors seemed to inch apart, but soon enough they were wide enough for her small form to fit through. She leapt inside and pressed a button. Then she stood there, waiting for the doors to close again.

Ironhide was still staring at her thoughtfully she saw when she turned to wait for the doors to close, and to make matters worse he pulled lightly at the other end of their bond and silently asked what she was doing up here. Unsure what to do, Aria sent back a wordless, "Nothing," and nodded at him by way of hello. Then went back to staring self consciously at the dirty floor.

She could hear the doors as they creaked shut, but not before she heard a somewhat bemused, "Aria?" as Hound looked up to see what Ironhide was staring at.

The elevator doors closed in front of her and cut off any more unwanted conversation, although the thick doors couldn't keep her from catching the pair's confusion and concern at her bizarre reaction to them.

Aria forced herself to relax against the wall behind her and let out a deep breath of air she hadn't realized she'd been holding as the elevator began its slow descent. She felt tangled up inside, confused and conflicted, and for some reason knowing that Ironhide and Hound had seen her only made it worse.

"And it's not like they're some of the dimmer bulbs in the city either." Aria muttered to herself as she leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling far above her. "If it had been the twins I wouldn't be as worried. They probably wouldn't care two cents what I was doing there in the first place, so why should they worry about it after all? Hound and Ironhide on the other hand…" she trailed off, sinking a little deeper into her self consciousness.

The elevator seemed to take its time going down and Aria tried to shove aside her unease, or at least ignore it. She thought about the hot water that was waiting for her back at home and the clean, sweat-free, clothes hanging in her closet.

Knowing that warmth and cleanness were just a few minutes away, she was almost relaxed when the elevator suddenly stopped at the fourth floor. She opened her eyes as the large box came to a jerky stop and the doors slowly reopened with a groan of protest.

"Somebody needs to seriously service this thing." Aria mumbled as she slouched against the back wall, not bothering to move over for the newcomer. It wasn't like there wasn't any room for whoever had called the elevator after all.

"Why the heck do you have to be so dang stubborn all the time!" Aria heard someone shout in frustration as the door creaked open. Immediately most of her tension returned, making her neck hurt.

"Well why do you have to be such a goody two-boots?" Another bot shot back.

"How bout both of you quit yelling before I decide to end this argument for you?!" A feminine voice began to threaten the other two, but a fourth cut her off.

"Hey! I found Jie Mei!"

The doors finally finished opening and Aria found herself staring at the unexpected frame of Bumblebee. He was standing in front of the elevator, but he was clearly arguing with someone out of sight. Bluestreak, who was standing behind the yellow bot, had been the one that had spotted Aria in the elevator.

Bumblebee looked inside and caught her eyes before looking away, feeling contrite. Aria gently nudged him across their bond, worried something was wrong, but all she felt from him was a mass of guilt and self-reproach that rivaled her own internal conflict.

"Hey Aria," Bumblebee said in a low voice, argument temporarily forgotten, or at least on hold. He shuffled uneasily before asking, "Do, um, do you mind if we talk to you for a minute?"

Aria blinked at her younger brother, visions of showers and clean clothes still in her head.

"I dunno 'Bee," Aria said reluctantly. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to talk with him, or Val, at the moment. She was still more then a little mad after the polka dot incident. "Can't this wait a little while? I was going to go clean up before helping Prowl and-" But she got no further.

"Please," Bumblebee said urgently, one hand holding back the old elevator door so it didn't close on him, "it's," he shied away before looking up at her again and meeting her eyes, "it's important."

Aria took in Bumblebee's earnest optics and the nervous set to his shoulders. He looked almost desperate to say whatever was on his mind. Even their sibling bond was quiet, as if he was holding his breath, waiting for her answer.

Behind him, Bluestreak watched with equal interest, although not as intensely as Bumblebee. The blue bot gave Aria a nod and an encouraging nudge through their own bond when she looked over at him.

With a sigh, Aria realized she probably wasn't going to get that shower after all. "Alright," she told her brother softly.

Some of the tension left Bumblebee's frame and he moved out of the way so she could join them in the hallway.

Looking down at the floor, Aria stepped out of the elevator. She heard the doors creak close behind her as she crossed her arms over her chest and switched her weight from foot to foot somewhat defensively.

"Alright 'Bee," she said, finally looking up at her brother again, "what did you want to say?" She asked, trying to keep her face and voice neutral.

Bumblebee's optics flicked over to whoever he had been arguing with before, but Aria kept her eyes focused on her yellow brother. She knew Val and Arcee were standing off to the side – she could see their respective brown and pink paintjobs just out of the corner of her eye – but she couldn't deal with them right now. The only way she could make herself stand here – while her vulnerability ran all over her, overpowering most of her better senses – was to deal with them one at a time. And Bumblebee was the one that had said he'd needed to speak in the first place. If Val couldn't face her right now, then that was Val's problem. And a conversation for another orbit.

Bumblebee vented a rough sigh, realizing that Val wasn't going to step in right now. _"Well fine,"_ the yellow mech thought stubbornly, _"he can keep quiet if he wants. But I can't stand it any longer."_

"Aria," Bumblebee said out loud with difficulty, "Aria I'm," he hesitated, "I'm _sorry_. For yesterday. I shouldn't," he paused. Where'd his words go? He'd been practicing them for hours as he'd looked for Aria. And now that he finally had, his processor had up and ditched them!

Bumblebee sighed, giving up hope of sounding less like a fool then he already felt. "I shouldn't have kidnapped Nat and painted him like that."

Aria glared up at him a little from under her bangs. She hugged herself tighter. "No," she agreed, "you shouldn't have." She muttered.

An awkward, angry silence descended between them and for a minute it looked like that would be the end of it.

But then Aria gave an explosive sigh and stamped her foot, fists forming at her sides. "Why did you even _do_ that?!" She demanded loudly, eyes starting to burn. "I mean, what? Do you guys just want me to be _alone_ the rest of my life or, or _what?_" She shouted, voice cracking at the end.

Aria stopped and hugged herself again, pressing the back of one hand against her nose as if that could keep it from running. Her throat felt too tight and she knew that if she started speaking again she was going to end up crying too.

She felt Bumblebee sink deeper into his guilt and remorse as he crouched down to be closer to her. "No Jie Mei, of course not, we were just-I thought-" he gave up with a groan and put his head in his hands. She felt the tangle in his spark tighten around him as she tried to tell her what he had thought that had led up to this point.

"I was still angry with him okay?" Bumblebee finally told her. "For spying on you without your armor and you don't like that. But then after that, when you started to like him more, I think I just…" he slowed as the mad rush of words left him and he didn't feel so much like screaming, "wanted to keep you to myself." Bumblebee admitted. "I know it was selfish, and I'm sorry Jie Mei! I am!" He told her loudly, tone almost pleading with her to believe him.

Aria did. She could feel his earnestness through their bond. But she was still upset with him, so she just nodded curtly at Bumblebee.

Bumblebee saw the nod and wilted, small antenna slowly sinking back into his helmet. He had hoped that an apology would make things alright again, but he guessed that it would take some time yet before Aria forgave them completely.

"And just for the record," he added in a muffled voice, "I never wanted you to be alone."

"Pfft," came the rude interjection, "don't be ridiculous 'Bee. Aria wouldn't have been alone. She's never alone. She's got _us_."

Aria and Bumblebee looked up as Val grumbled the words out. He looked just as sulky and defensive as Aria did, and possibly just as angry. Behind him, Arcee shook her head at him. Stubborn didn't even _begin _to describe Val at the moment.

Bumblebee glared at his friend, but before he could speak Aria snapped at Val.

"That's not the same and you know it Val!" She pointed an accusing finger at him.

Val scowled down at his sister. "Is it? You were perfectly happy with just us _before _that guy got here. What makes him so slaggin' special?"

Aria frowned back, meeting his stubbornness head on. "What makes you hate him so much?" She shot back. "Ever since you met him you've had it out for him and I want to know why!" She shouted.

Val drew back a little. "It's none of your business!"

"You made it my business when you decided to haze my boyfriend!"

"He wasn't your boyfriend at first! He was just some creeper that nobody knew!"

Aria blew out a bullish snort. "What the heck's your _problem _Val?" She demanded. "You won't even give him a chance!"

"I don't want to give him a chance!" Val shouted back.

"Why? Because you're so freakishly stubborn that you can't even make it past your first impressions of people?"

"No!"

"Well then why do you frackin' _hate him?!"_

_"Because I don't want him to take you away from us!"_

An unnaturally heavy silence followed the echoes of Val's scream.

Aria could only stare. In the back of her mind she wondered if this was what it felt like to be slapped. "What?" She finally managed to breath the word out.

A small, scared sound escaped Val's throat. The words were out now and he couldn't get them back, no matter how much he wanted to.

"I-" he forced the words out of his vocorder, "I don't want him to take you away Jie Mei. I couldn't stand it! You can't leave us Jie Mei you can't!" He shouted in a sudden panic.

Arcee came up off the wall behind him as if it had burned her. "What?!" She yelled.

"Jie Mei's leaving?" Bluestreak gave his own frightened shout.

"But you can't leave us Aria!" Bee told her in sudden terror. His bright blue optics suddenly refused to leave his sister.

Aria gaped up at the four of them, surprised things had gotten so out of hand so fast.

"Wha-what?!" She finally managed to make her voice work. "What are you guys talking about? I'm not going anywhere!"

"Not yet," Val gasped as if someone had come up and knocked all the air out of him with one blow. Suddenly he sounded very young and hurt. "You aren't gonna leave _yet_."

Aria felt her mouth open, but no words came out. All she could do was look up at her brother with a confused, worried expression in her blue eyes.

Val couldn't meet those worried eyes. Instead he stared at the floor somewhere between horrified and pouting. The youngest Wrecker slowly sank down and sat with a muffled thump in front of her. He put his hands in his lap and rubbed them together in a rare show of nervous fear.

"Its just.-" he started hesitantly, only sounding somewhat calmer then before, "that if you…_like_," he awkwardly rubbed at the back of his neck and looked away again, "this guy as much as you say you do, and," he quickly put in, "obviously you care about him at least a _little_," he admitted grudgingly, "then," his face fell again, even more somber than before, "then…what's to keep you from," he paused almost infinitesimally, "from going with him back to his planet Jie Mei?"

He trailed off, running out of words.

Aria stared at him, mouth hanging open slightly. Behind Val's hunched form she saw Bluestreak and Arcee exchange a horrified look. Obviously they hadn't thought about that before. Bumblebee just looked like he'd been stabbed in the back by his best friend.

Aria finally felt her brain start working again. "_That's_ what all this is about?" She asked them. "_That's _why you've been flipping out over Nat?"

Val's optics flicked guiltily over to Aria before just as quickly flicking away. He gave a tiny shrug and a nod. "Yeah," he mumbled, "I just…don't want him to take you away." There was a small whine, like a strained engine, at the tail end of his words. It was a sign that he was even closer to crying then she was. Aria remembered it from when Val had been younger.

Aria blinked at her brother. Out of the seven youngest ones, Val was easily the tallest, broadest, and strongest. He had always been brash and wildly confident, which, combined with his youth, generally meant that his commanders had a processor ache at the end of the orbit from trying to get him to listen and obey their orders. Usually he responded exactly how you _thought _a mech like him would, and he had ended up in more trouble for it then any of the other younglings still on Cybertron. Fortunately though, he had done well with the Wreckers. Ultra Magnus and the older mechs under him were strong, sure, but they had that same devil-may-care confidence that Val had. Between that and their experience and combined wisdom, Val respected them, listening when they gave him advice and obeying whatever order Ultra Magnus gave.

But sometimes, like now, all of that dropped away. The self assurance, the inward strength, the resolve to never look back. All of it – gone. And then it was obvious how young Val really was. He was too young. He'd been too young when his guardian had been killed on the battlefield and he was still too young now.

It was hard to reconcile that with the over-confident, loud-mouthed Wrecker, but Aria chided herself anyway. She should have expected something like this, _especially_ from Val. Loosing a parent was hard for anybody – of any species – but Aria thought that the way the Cybertronians tied themselves together only made the loss that much worse. Guardian ties ran deep, not as deep as a spark bond perhaps, but still. Deep enough to leave scars when it was unexpectedly ripped away. Deep enough that even someone like Val was now terrified at the thought of losing the only caretaker he had left.

Aria looked up at her brother. Seeing his withdrawn optics and hunched shoulders, Aria thought that loosing her too would be…too much for him.

And he wouldn't be the only one, she knew. Aria had her own deep ties to this place – to them, especially her young bots – ones she wasn't ready to let go of yet. Not even close.

Her heart hurt just thinking about it. She opened her mouth to try and tell Val that it was going to be okay, that she couldn't _bear _to leave him and the others either, but her throat had closed up again. It hurt to try and talk.

"I just…don't want you to go Jie Mei." Val told her slowly, engine whine in his voice again, louder then before.

Aria swallowed past the sharp edged rock in her throat. "Aw Val," she mumbled, vision starting to blur in front of her, "Val I need you guys too. You're the only family I've got left. I couldn't-I could never just leave you like that." She managed to say past her aching throat.

"It's just…" Aria fidgeted and looked down at her feet, needing to explain it to them "I don't want to be…_alone_ the rest of my life…" she mumbled self consciously. This was a difficult thing to admit, even to her younglings. "I want…" she continued slowly, trying to piece her thoughts together, "I want to be _loved_. To know that there's someone out there that thinks…that thinks I'm amazing. Someone that loves me even when I do things that are mean or stupid or petty." She suddenly looked away, fussing with her hair in self conscious embarrassment. "Or, something like that anyways." She mumbled.

Bluestreak and Val looked a little confused by her words. "But," Bluestreak said slowly, speaking for the both of them now, "but we _do_ love you Jie Mei." He told her. How could she not know that?

Aria sniffed, voice becoming rougher. "I know." She told him quickly. "Believe me, I _know_." She sent firm hugs across the bonds that tied her to Bumblebee and Bluestreak. She was even able to get the same feeling across the informal bonds that had formed over time between her and Val and Arcee. She just spent so much time with the younglings while they were growing up that they all had them. They were hazy and undefined – not nearly as focused as the eight she had received with her part spark – and once Arcee or Val left her immediate area she couldn't feel them anymore, but the bonds were there all the same. And when Arcee and Val were standing this close to her it didn't really make a difference that they were informal tethers.

"I _know _you love me," Aria stressed, "and I _love_ all of you. You're my _family._" She told them so fiercely that they couldn't have disbelieved her even if they had wanted to. "But that's just the point." She added. "I want," she swallowed hard, hands grasping at air as if she could somehow clutch the feeling she wanted so badly and bring it closer, "I want what Optimus ad Elita have, or Ironhide and Chromia." She told them. "I wan to know _soul deep_ that there's someone out there that loves me, despite knowing all my flaws. And that's a different kind of love then what I feel for you guys. Not bad," she looked over at Val in particular, "just different."

Bumblebee looked down at his own large feet as he scuffed one against the floor, looking a little blue, despite his bright yellow paint. Out of all of them he had always understood her best. They had a special connection between them, although neither could describe it. They just knew it was there.

"And," Bumblebee spoke up softly, "you think Nathanial might be…that guy?" He asked hesitantly.

Aria sighed and shook her head. "I honestly don't know." She told them. "I know that I like him." She added, and then huffed a half-hearted laugh, "In case you didn't notice earlier I like him a lot. But it's taken me this long to figure even _that_ much out. How long do you think it'll take me to figure out if I love him or not?" She grinned, only one corner of her mouth twitching up, making it go crooked. The gesture felt more then a little out of place on her face.

It faded though as something else occurred to her. She started playing with her hair again as she looked away towards the floor. "Although, I think," she swallowed, even though her mouth was dry, "I think I'm falling _in_ love with him." She admitted. "If you can see the difference between that and loving someone."

Arcee smiled briefly at her. "If there even _is_ a difference." She pointed out cheekily. Or at least, as cheekily as her subdued words would let her sound.

Val blinked at her. "So you really do love him then." He mumbled, sounding miserable over the matter. He was losing her anyway, no matter what he did. And Aria could feel his misery at the idea.

That's when the first tear finally dropped down Aria's face and, like a flag at a race track, started off all the others. She just couldn't make them stop, no matter how she sniffed and scrubbed at her face with the inside of her shirt.

"I don't know," she told him through the falling tears, "I don't know." She gave a short sound that sounded like it was just as much sob as laugh. "Just think," she told them in a rough, choked off voice, "all this mess over something I'm not even sure over."

She hated it. Although she wasn't sure if that was because of the mess of arguments all this had caused or if she was just mad at herself for not being sure in the first place.

Still sniffing, Aria held out her hands to her brother. Val, needing no other invitation, picked her up and brought her close so that she could wrap her arms around his neck. Or at least try to.

"You're not losing me Val," she told him as firmly as her weepy voice would let her, "you'll never lose me. Even if I die I'll haunt you until the day you do too." She told him.

Val gave a short laugh. "Or until the day you drive me out of my mind. Whichever comes first."

Aria laughed a little past her crying, and the held a hand out to Bumblebee where he was sitting nervously nearby, waiting to see if this forgiveness extended to him too.

He came over immediately and sat next to Val so that Aria was between them. Arcee and Bluestreak needed no invitation after that and soon Aria was surrounded by her grow up younglings.

Awhile later when the tears had died down (and not just Aria's either), and Aria had hugged and patted each of her brood, she gave a loud sniff and wiped the edge of her nose on the inside of her shirt, since she didn't have anything else.

"Sorry guys," she mumbled, "this is all such a mess. I guess I feel kind of silly now." Aria told them with a forcibly light voice as she tried to breathe through her nose again. "All this crying over a guy when there're more important things to worry about. It's like high school all over again." She thought about that. "Except during a war." She thought some more. "And with aliens." She thought some more. "And it's all on anther planet."

The boys chuckled at the flat joke, but Arcee remained quiet.

The only femme nudged her organic sister. "I don't think you're silly." She told her, perfectly serious.

Aria twisted around so she could see the pink femme sitting behind her. The girls shared a small smile. "Thanks Arcee."

Next to them, Val just turned to Bumblebee and Bluestreak. "This is gonna be a girl thing now isn't it?" He asked them with sarcastic flatness.

Arcee shoved him, making him rock on the floor and sending Aria falling into Bumblebee's hands. "Oh mute it." She lightly snapped. "With _that _kind of attitude it's no wonder you've never had a girlfriend. I bet you wouldn't know flirting if it reached up and bit you on the aft."

Bluestreak grimaced and rubbed at his backside. "That sounds like it'd hurt..." he mumbled.

Val immediately took just the right amount of indignant offense. "Hey! I would so know it! And for your information I've had lots of girlfriends before."

Arcee smirked at him. "Imaginary ones don't count." She told him evenly.

Bumblebee and Bluestreak laughed, although Aria tried to keep hers in. Val leveled a scowl at Arcee sitting innocently next to him.

"Her name was Bellcrest and she was _not_ imaginary." He told her, _again_, before adding more defensively, "she just didn't like to come out when you guys were around."

Even Aria couldn't hold back her laughter now. "Right," Bluestreak said, "because there's _another_ youngling femme out there named Bellcrest that no one knows about." But then he thought about it. "Of course, there were lots of stories of guardians hiding their younglings back then and there were always bots hiding out in the edges of the different territories and all so I guess there _could_ have been another youngling running around Iacon, only someone had to be hiding her of course which might mean her guardian was an Autobot but that still doesn't explain why you're the only one that met her and none of us ever even _saw _her."

Bumblebee snickered as much at Bluestreak undoing his own friendly prodding as he did at Val. "You could have at _least_ picked a better name Val." He said when Bluestreak finally trailed off. "I mean Bellcrest? Really?"

Val ignored them. "Well that's her real name, but she prefers to be called Molly. And she didn't come out of the Well of AllSparks like us, which is why no one else knew about her except her mom, who hid with her, and her dad, who was an Autobot. And me too of course."

Aria covered her mouth to keep him from seeing her smile. She couldn't help it in the end. It had been cute when he had been a youngling and it was still cute now.

"You know it's okay to have imaginary friends when you're that young Val." Aria told him, remembering it very well. "I had one when I was a kid. His name was Jiminy and he was a cricket." She chirped, holding out her hand palm up. "And he could fit in my hand. It wasn't very original I know, but still, that's what my Grandma told me. Apparently I used to go showing him around to everybody."

Val practically pouted. "She wasn't imaginary!" He told them loudly.

Arcee just smoothly stood up and shrugged. "Whatever you say Val." She said as she pressed the up button on the elevator. "Now do you guys still want to hit the shooting range or would you rather sit around here all day?"

There was a grumbled reply as the mechs all found their feet. Aria would have gotten down, but Val suddenly held out his hand.

"I never had a cricket," he told her, not bothering to add that he didn't even know what a cricket was, "so my hand's free if you want a ride." He offered, sounding a little shy around the edges.

Aria looked up at him, seeing the lingering uncertainty and reserve hiding in his optics. He nudged her tentatively across their informal bond, telling Aria (in not as many words) that he didn't want to let her go quite yet, although he said he would understand if she didn't want to ride with him right now.

Aria smiled at him, sensing the anxious youngling in him coming to the surface again. She sent him her love as she stepped onto his hand.

Val's smile was wide with relief. "Hey," he turned to the others now piling onto the waiting elevator, "you guys go ahead. I'll catch up with you."

"Where are you going?" Bumblebee asked from where he was holding the door open.

Aria looked up at Val in confusion. It was a good question.

But Val just shrugged one shoulder. "I'm gonna walk with Jie Mei for a little bit. You said you were just going home right Aria?" He asked her.

Aria grinned up at him. "Oh, right. Thanks Val. That'd be nice."

"Oh, okay," Bee said as he stepped back to let the old doors creak close, "well don't take too long." He told Val before waving at Aria, "See you later Jie Mei."

Bluestreak and Arcee added their own goodbyes before the door closed. Val and Aria were silent for a moment as Val offered Aria a seat on his shoulder. She climbed up and held on before he stepped forward and pushed the down button so they could catch the elevator on its way back.

"I missed you Val," Aria whispered after a stretch of silence, "you weren't acting like yourself before now. I didn't like it."

Val laughed, the sudden movement nearly jerking Aria off her perch. "Ya know I'm not sure I did either." He admitted sheepishly. Then he shrugged one massive shoulder, scowling reluctantly at the floor below him. "And I'm sorry." He mumbled to her seriously. "That I was such a jerk."

Aria smiled sweetly at him. That was more the Val she knew was buried under all that armor. "Thanks Val," she whispered, quickly kissing his cheek. Then she added with half of a laugh, "Although I don't think I'm the only one who should hear that."

Val groaned in mock frustration as more of his good humor returned. "Ah Jie Mei do I _have _to?" He whined. Like every other Wrecker Aria knew, he hated to admit when he'd been wrong.

Aria shrugged, but couldn't keep all of the smile off of her face. "Well I can't _make _you, but that doesn't change the fact that I think you _should_." She told him.

Val sighed theatrically, but then he dropped the act and gave Aria a small smile. "Same old Jie Mei. Always trying to get us to do the right thing on our own."

Aria grinned at her brother. "Is it working?" She teased.

Val half hid his smile when he looked over at her. He didn't answer her as the elevator doors opened again and he walked through.

Aria propped her hands on her hips and mock glared at him as he pushed the one button, still without answering her, but the smile pulling at one side of her mouth ruined the effect. "Oh, sure," she gently mocked him, "_now_ who's being silly?" She asked him.

"I refuse to answer that if only because you actually used the word 'silly'." Val answered back, but his grin was still peeking out from the side of his mouth.

Aria just laughed at him as the elevator doors closed again and they began to descend to the first floor where her house was waiting.

...

But the hallway wasn't empty yet. Standing around the corner, leaned back against the wall where none of the others could have seen him, stood Nathanial. His face was angled up towards the ceiling, but his eyes were closed. If anyone had passed him then, they would have asked him what was wrong.

He would have told them nothing, or made up some excuse like he just hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, but it wasn't true. Peg could feel it wasn't true, but that was all she could feel at her end of their tether bond. He had shut everything else away, even from her.

That upset her enough that she wasn't going to ask him what was bothering him, although she desperately wanted to know of course.

But Nathanial wasn't telling. And Peg hadn't heard what he had.

He hadn't heard the whole conversation, but he had heard enough to feel…tangled up inside.

Ironically enough, it wasn't Val that bothered him, or even Bumblebee. No, he could almost understand why they had done it now. And Val- well it seemed he and Val had more in common then he had thought at first.

It wasn't the mention of the infamous 'L-word' either that had him leaning against the wall for support as he tried to think. Actually his heart had given a small flop when he'd heard Aria say she thought she was falling in love with him. It wasn't even Aria's uncertainty about loving him that had upset him. With her, those things just didn't frighten him like they had before with other girls.

No, what bothered him – what kept nagging at his mind – what it kept boiling down to no matter what they were talking about or what was happening around them, was that one simple yet twistedly complex idea that kept cropping up between them.

_Family_.


	25. Chapter 25: Twisted All Around Inside

Right, sorry about the lateness of this. I had it done last week, but I needed to sit on it to make sure it would...work. That and my sister's dog (ugh) tripped me while I was racing said sister and I ended up scraping up my right elbow and palm pretty bad. And of _course_ it was right at that place that made typing really really awkward and painful.

But anyway, it's up now and we're finally moving into that part of the story where everything goes horribly wrong! :D Uh...wee? So yeah, that's why I wanted to make sure I did this part right.

A _HUGE_ thank you goes to my reviewers Mercedes Wolfcry, Huh, DeathByLackOfMusic, Guest, Link's Rose, Just Watch Me, Autobot-Bre, and especially Trapezoidal. Yours in particular just made me feel so...proud of myself! :) Anyway, I love you all and thank you so much!

Also, Tuesdays are getting too hectic. I'm going to have to switch posting days. I'm just not sure what the new day should be yet, so I'll tell you when I decide. haha i hacked the computer! It is me, Mini Grimmy! eep! noooooooo dont take it away NOooooooooooOOOOOoooooo!

...Er...right, well...that was interesting...so, um...oh yeah! I don't know if any of you voted for me in the StumbleUpon contest, but one of my pieces made the top twenty! So if any of you did, THANK YOU! XD

I hope you like this chapter! (and that it makes sense... o.O) Have a happy Halloween too!

...

The Long Road Home

25 – Twisted All Around Inside – 25

_"It just doesn't make any sense," _Nathanial thought as he rhythmically brushed down Peg's bony back, _"it never makes any sense."_

One of Peg's ears flicked back, a sign that her curiosity was really starting to eat at her. _"It would make more sense if you would just _tell_ me about it." _She told him snappishly. Her human was moping and not only was that _annoying_, she thought both ears sinking down towards her skull now, it was _stupid. _Mainly because he wouldn't _tell her why_ he was doing it in the first place. The only thing she had been able to figure out was that this all had something to do with Aria. But it hadn't exactly taken a brain surgeon to figure _that_ out.

Nathanial stopped his unfocused brushing and stared at Peg's back with a frown. Peg's ears perked up automatically. For a minute she thought he might actually be getting ready to tell her everything…

But then he shook his head. _"No Peg," _he told her, _"I'm sorry. I can't."_

Peg stamped her foot and snorted. _"But whyyyy?"_ She whined childishly over their tether bond.

Nathanial went back to his brushing. _"Because I overheard something that was really none of my business."_ He mumbled, frowning again.

Peg hung her head and sighed in disappointment. Why did her human have to be so dang stubborn at times? Why couldn't he be a gossip like that infernal aunt of his?

_"This wouldn't have anything to do with Aria calling those mechlings her brothers would it?"_ Peg hazarded a sulky guess, not really expecting her human to drop anything. No, he was too _noble_ for that. Just her luck she had actually gotten one of the few humans with _principles_.

_"Sweet Nexus why me? Why'd I have to get one of the _good_ ones?"_ Peg was just beginning to really get into her self pity when her human's head snapped up.

"Why would you think that Peg?" Nathanial demanded out loud.

One of Peg's ears swiveled around towards him like a heat-seeking missile. She had hit something close to the matter. She had heard it in his voice.

_"Oh," _she said nonchalantly, _"nobody really. No one had to. You've been stuck on that almost ever since her brothers got here in the first place." _She reminded him, her mind only now reminding her that that was true.

Nathanial's mouth thinned and Peg inwardly celebrated. So _that's _what this was about. She'd hit the heart of the matter!

_"Bullseye!"_ She thought, squishing the word into the back of her mind where Nathanial wouldn't be able to hear it.

Her human shot her a look and for a startled heartbeat, Peg thought he'd heard her anyway. But then he stubbornly ran the brush down her back again and Peg released a relieved breath. He hadn't. She was in the clear.

She waited silently a moment, carefully watching her human out of the corner of her large, brown eye.

Soon enough, he groaned out an irritable sigh and flung the curry brush at the saddle bags lying nearby. The brush missed and slid to a stop a few feet away from the bags, but Nathanial didn't bother to go pick it up.

"I just don't understand!" He said loudly, throwing his hands up in the air out of frustration, and then lacing them behind his head when he found he didn't know what else to do with them now.

Peg didn't say anything as Nathanial began to pace next to her. Herds had always been a sensitive subject with him she knew, so she didn't say anything until she was sure he wouldn't bite her head off for answering._ "Well of course it doesn't make any sense to you. You don't really have a herd waiting for you like she does, much less two. And besides, you're thinking too much. What does it matter if she calls them brothers and sisters or not? They're only words. She loves them either way." _She pointed out to him in a gentle way she would never dare show to anyone but Nathanial.

"But that's just the point Peg!" Nathanial barked, frustration growing. "What _are _they to her? Why are they so special that she calls them her family instead of her friends? I just," he sighed, deflating, "I just don't understand."

Peg rumbled understandingly in her chest and reached over to nose Nathanial's hand. _"That's because you're thinking about it too much." _ She murmured. _"If you'd stop thinking so hard, it would make perfect sense."_ It was simple really – the reason why Aria loved her brood so much – but Peg knew from long experience that her human had a horrible tendency to over think matters, especially when the truth was staring him right in the face. And now was no exception.

Eyebrows furrowed as he stared into the distance, Nathanial patted Peg's nose before starting his pacing again.

Peg just sighed, whuffling wearily. Taking care of humans was so exhausting sometimes.

"It's just," Nathanial said after a moment, "I thought I'd understand it in time." He admitted to Peg. "But the longer I'm here, the more confounding it gets!" He flung his hands into the air again, strides becoming longer and more agitated. "You don't get to pick your family Peg, we both know that. But Aria's just gone and done the opposite. Like everything else she does." He mumbled.

Peg shifted her weight to her other leg. _"I thought you found that endearing about her."_ She pointed out calmly.

There was a stutter in Nathanial's pacing as he blinked, but he didn't say anything as he quickly evened out his stride. Peg just rumbled merrily in her chest. For her that was even better answer anyway. After being stuck with him for so long, she knew that was Nathanial for 'Quit inserting logic into my perfectly unreasonable argument.'

Alright, so she had paraphrased, but that's what it _should_ mean.

Peg sighed as Nathanial continued his pacing a few feet away from her now. This was getting them nowhere.

Slowly, she walked over to the rough center of her human's pacing line. Then she waited for him to pass her again before she reached out and snagged the back of his shirt with her teeth.

Nathanial stopped abruptly. "Peg!" He snapped, more startled then anything. "What are you doing?"

Peg pointedly nudged him forward towards the ladder. _"Go somewhere else."_ She told him, not unkindly. _"Go find something fun to do to take your mind off of this. It's obviously driving you crazy." _She nudged him again in the back, harder then before.

Nathanial skidded forward another few feet, despite his heels digging into the countertop. "And do what?" He asked her somewhat incredulously. He'd been worrying about this all morning. What could possibly distract him from it now?

_"I dunno," _Peg told him, _"paint something obscene on the docbot's wall and blame the twin nuisances. Help the explosive bot with that thing he's trying to make that's not actually _supposed _to explode. Or better yet help him with that pretty filly that kept coming around to trip over things the other night. That would be very entertaining." _Peg put in her two cents. _"Just go find _something_."_ She told him.

She nudged him again with her head, this time nearly sending him flying off the counter.

Nathanial glared at her over his shoulder for that one, but Peg was stubbornly unapologetic. She stared him down with wide, insistent eyes.

"Fine." Nathanial finally caved. "Just stay out of trouble while I'm gone, alright?" He grumbled.

Peg tossed her head in a nod. _"Oh yes, don't worry. The Boss Mare has asked me to tell her all the old stories with Nexus and about the herd back home. Do you mind if I tell her about the time you lost your underthings to a flag pole and were nearly trampled as a result?"_ Peg asked him innocently enough.

Nathanial's head reappeared over the side of the counter suddenly. With anyone else he would have assumed they were only trying to make fun of him, but with Peg…well with Peg it was always better to make sure, just in case. "What?! No! Don't tell her that Peg!" He protested loudly.

Peg sighed sadly and hung her head. And it was such a good story too... _"Oh, alright."_ She agreed reluctantly. Then she realized Nathanial was still watching her over the side of the counter.

She lowered her ears in a glare and stomped a hoof at him. _"Well what are you waiting around here for? Go find something distracting or I'll tell her anyway. Go on now, shoo!"_ She stamped again.

Nathanial leveled a flat gaze at her to show his appreciation at being kicked out of his room by his very own roommate, but continued climbing down the ladder nevertheless.

_"Maybe Peg's right,"_ he thought after he'd left the storage room and began meandering his way through the different halls, _"maybe I do need some kind of distraction…"_

He was only halfway down the hall but he turned around anyway and angled his feet towards Wheeljack's lab instead. If there was any kind of distraction in this building – the whole city even – then it was probably down there. Maybe there was something there the inventor needed help with, something that would distract his mind for at least a little while. Or at least long enough for this tension in his shoulders to leave him alone.

He didn't get very far.

"So I saw something interesting this morning." A voice said smoothly as the human rounded the corner.

Nathanial nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard it. His distracted brain caught a glimpse of something large and dark standing in the shadows next to him, making his heart leap into his throat, but then his rational mind caught up with him and he realized it was only Ironhide.

"Slaggit Ironhide!" Nathanial hissed in a rare show of temper. "What the frack are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"

Ironhide snorted as he pushed himself away from the wall. "If I wanted to attack you human I wouldn't do it by hiding around corners." He rumbled darkly, cannons whirring idly.

Nathanial glanced up at him with a frown. His heart was still racing. "No," he conceded slowly, "no I suppose you wouldn't. Now what did you want?" He tried to hold back his snappishness, but some of still leaked through anyway.

Ironhide hmphed under his breath as he crossed his arms over his broad chest and stared the small mech down. "Watch the attitude human. S'not my fault you scare easy."

Nathanial shot him a glare, but quickly tried to rein it in. Ironhide wasn't really one of those mechs he wanted to tick off, especially since the weapons specialist already went around calling him target practice…

"Right," Nathanial muttered, shoulders so stiff that his neck ached, "well it was nice seeing you." He grumbled before stiffly walking again.

Ironhide raised an optic ridge at the human's black sarcasm. Obviously the organic mech was having a bad day.

Not that that put Ironhide off any. He followed Nathanial anyway, just a few steps behind.

"So I saw something interesting today," he started again, completely ignoring the hunched over form of the human walking in front of him. "As Hound an' I were walkin' up to the shooting range to get in some practice, I saw a familiar small frame waitin' for the elevator up there. The place was mostly empty, but it looked liked they'd been up there for awhile. And you'll never guess who it was."

Nathanial rolled his eyes where the mech couldn't see. He was in no mood for games. All he wanted right now was to be left alone, but it looked like that wasn't about to happen anytime soon.

"I dunno," Nat grumbled when it became clear that Ironhide was going to follow him until he guessed, "Cliffjumper?"

"Nope," Ironhide rumbled, "it was Aria, with that little hook n'grapple thing of hers strapped to her side."

Nathanial's step faltered. Aria? Out practicing with her bizarre whip? For once Nat agreed with Ironhide; that _was_ a little strange.

In two large steps, Ironhide moved in front of the quickly moving human and firmly planted himself in Nathanial's way. He waited until he had the man's complete and undivided attention before he asked him in a low, gravelly voice, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would ya human?"

Nathanial resisted the urge to take a step back. He would not be intimidated. He was having too rotten a day to put up with being threatened, strung up, or shoved around _again_.

"Not really, no," He told the large mech offhandedly. "What makes you think I would?"

Ironhide narrowed his optics at the human. "'Cuz before now the only thing that could'a gotten Aria out of the city would be one of her youngun's screamin' for her. And between now and then, _you_," he jabbed a digit at Nathanial, "are the only thing that's changed around here. So I'm gonna ask you again," Ironhide said, voice becoming dangerously low, "did you have anything to do with her finding that thing again?"

Nathanial thought about their failed dinner conversation the other night, about Aria's lost brothers and her guilt over the whole horrible matter. And while she had never directly mentioned any kind of change in heart about leaving the city or anything like it, Nathanial could see how she could have been giving the matter a lot of thought since then.

He glanced up to see Ironhide still staring down at him.

"…possibly," Nat finally conceded, and then, still feeling rather belligerent added, "Although I would have thought that _you_ of all mechs would have more faith in her then that Ironhide. Aria's stronger then she lets on. You shouldn't doubt her so much."

Above him, Ironhide narrowed his optics even more so that now they looked more like burning blue slits then optics. He rumbled deep in his chest, but Nathanial felt too stubborn to back down. Peg must be finally wearing off on him, he thought.

Slowly, the big, black mech leaned down so that he was staring Nathanial full in the face. "I don't know what you did human," he rumbled, "that got Aria to find that thing again, but I haven't figured out if I should kill ya or thank ya for it just yet, so you might want to be careful with what you say."

Some confusion slipped through Nathanial's resentment, despite Ironhide's threat. He could guess why Ironhide would want to kill him for convincing Aria to go back into battle – however indirectly – so he didn't bother asking that question. Instead he went for the more useful, "Why would you thank me?"

Ironhide scrutinized the man before answering. "Do you know how long she's cooped herself up here? Afraid of leaving because she doesn't want to come back to more bad news like the twins bein' gone? Vorns, that's how long. Sure, she's kept busy, and she's done what jobs she could here in the city – stuff that _did _need doin' – but she's still afraid. I tried to tell her this self-imposed exile was a stupid idea at first, but she wouldn't hear it. Said it was her fault the twins were gone because she wasn't here when the S.O.S. came in."

"But that's not true." Nathanial stressed.

"Of course it ain't true!" Ironhide shouted. "We can see that, but just try tellin' that to her! She won't have it. So after awhile I just stopped bringing it up. Hound and Ratchet kept tellin' me it was too soon or something like that, so I figured I'd leave her alone and let her come to her senses on her own.

"Except she didn't." He added with a frown. "Until now at any rate. After _you_ got here."

Nathanial shifted his weight as the blame once again landed squarely on him. "And you're fragged that _I_ got her out of this slump? Well guess what Ironhide," Nathanial snapped, pointing at himself as he scowled at the mech in front of him, "this is the first I've heard about it either. Aria's a grown woman who can make her own choices. All I did was listen to her, so if you want to beat me just for that-"

Ironhide suddenly threw back his head and laughed at the man. "Beat you? What're you talking about Nat? I'm not going to hurt ya man," he prodded Nat with a finger instead of slapping him on the back. Nat still ended up stumbling sideways anyway. "After what Aria did to Val and Bumblebee just for giving you a new paintjob? Ha! Even I'm not _that _reckless." Ironhide laughed again loudly.

With a low growl, Nathanial straightened himself up. Next to him Ironhide watched him mutter to himself as he rubbed his side where the mech had shoved him.

"Yeesh Nat," Ironhide muttered, noticing the human's increased agitation, "what's got you of all people pickin' fights today? Did Aria kick ya out of her bed or what?"

It was a good thing Nathanial hadn't been drinking anything because it would have ended up all over the floor at that point. As it was he still ended up choking on his own words.

"W-what?! No! She didn't-I'm not-we've never-" he fumbled.

Ironhide watched him, one optic ridge raised.

Nathanial finally pulled himself together. "We're not doing _that!_" He hissed, mortified.

Ironhide's other optic ridge joined the first one in a look that was equal parts disbelief and surprise. "Well no wonder you're in a bad mood." He finally muttered.

Nathanial buried his face in his hands and tried to pretend that this wasn't happening.

Ironhide let him wallow in his embarrassment for a minute. He thought it was pretty funny actually. These humans and their awkwardness about bonding. It was highly entertaining he thought, especially when they started changing colors.

"Look kid," Ironhide spoke up when he'd thought Nathanial had had enough, "I'm not trying to blame ya for anything." He told him with a causal shrug.

Nathanial managed to look up at the mech again, although Ironhide noticed that Nat's face was redder then Inferno's paint. Despite that though, Nathanial determinedly ignored the reason why. "So you're…glad that Aria is going back to war?" He asked dubiously instead.

Ironhide snorted. "Hardly," he muttered, "I just haven't made up my mind which I didn't like more; her thinking she's good for nuthin' but deskwork or her being out there." He gestured vaguely at the wall in front of them since there were no windows around to point through.

Nathanial nodded. His meaning was clear enough.

A shadow crossed his face as an image appeared, unbidden and unwanted, into his head of Aria, standing alone with nothing but her hook and grapple, facing down a line of darkened Decepticons.

"Can she really do all that?" He asked softly, for the moment forgetting that Ironhide had no way of knowing what he'd just thought. "Can she really…survive your kind of battlefield?"

Ironhide wasn't sure if the man was talking to himself or to him, but he gave a short, hard laugh anyway. "I dunno Nat," he said even though he perfectly well _did_ know, "you've seen her in action. You tell me."

Nathanial tried to remind himself of Aria leaping out of the ceiling to take on the twins with no kind of fear whatsoever, but it still wasn't enough to erase the image of Aria fighting the violet-eyed 'cons alone. The fear that picture inspired made his heart skip unevenly, and he roughly shoved it away, thinking it was better to be angry then afraid.

As soon as the fear was back in its box, his earlier annoyance snapped back into place. "Well if you haven't made up your mind about slagging me yet-" Nathanial started to say stiffly.

"I haven't." Ironhide put in, just as a friendly reminder to the smaller mech.

"-then I will take my leave and be on my way."

Ironhide rolled his optics at the choice of words. "Take your leave?" He repeated, more exasperated then offended. "Seriously? No wonder you get along with Mirage so well. You sound just like him."

Nathanial ignored him as he continued making his way down to Wheeljack's secluded lab, only giving Chromia a stiff nod as she passed, heading the opposite direction of the human.

"Yeesh," the blue and silver femme muttered as she and Ironhide watched the irritable human turn the corner, "looks like someone was having a little too much fun putting the boyfriend in his place." She said, leveling a look at her sparkmate.

Ironhide just shrugged at her. "Maybe," he admitted, "but he was already in a bad mood when I found him. Guess it's just one of those kinds of orbits."

...

_"Alright," _Nathanial thought some time later as he inspected the ground bridge's blueprints yet again, _"so we've got the portal's stability finally worked out, although without some kind of test subject to send through then it only works in theory so…"_

Nathanial straightened up and looked around the lab. Given it belonged to Wheeljack, there were more then enough testing dummies (or pieces of them…) just lying around. With a stubborn groan, the man shoved himself away from his makeshift workspace and briskly made his way down the length of the counter. He half hummed out a tired old tune as he slouched down the stairs, crossed the room, and climbed up a different set of stairs attached to a different counter. He stopped about halfway up where a drawer was held open by all the bits and pieces of old targets jammed into it.

"Now let's see…" he muttered to himself as he leaned over the drawer that physically couldn't close anymore. "Not that one," he shoved aside a ragged circular piece to get at the ones underneath, "not that one," he repeated as he shoved another piece into the corner, "ah ha! You down there! You're perfect."

Nat stopped talking to himself long enough to pull out a crumpled up piece of plastic about as big as a basketball that had gone a little flat. He gave it an experimental toss in the air before catching it again. It landed with a solid thunk in his hands and he grinned tightly. "Yep, you should do nicely."

He made his way back towards where the prototype ground bridge, along with its blueprints, still sat waiting. He must have made this trip four or five times already – down, across, up, back down, back across, back up – because he kept forgetting little, necessary things across the room. On any other day Nathanial would have been annoyed with himself for leaving important things like screwdrivers and experiment fodder scattered about, but today he found the walking relaxing. There was a cadence, a comforting sort of rhythm in the movement that helped to smooth over the sharp edges that had been nettling at his mind ever since last night.

"Right," he muttered to himself as he stopped in front of the blueprints one last time to look them over, "well, this _should_ work."

He sighed anyway and ran a hand through his hair. It wasn't the first time he'd said that today.

He left the crumpled up plastic with the blueprints before going over the prototype ground bridge's control board. It wasn't much to look at – barely more then an old arcade game console really – but it was still more then a NASA technician could have figured out in a year. Still, Nathanial knew the prototype's unique complexities almost as well as Wheeljack did, so his hands didn't fumble as he went about inputting data with switch toggling and button pressing.

"Right, so we don't need to go gallivanting across the galaxy quite yet," Nat muttered to himself as he repeatedly tapped a button, making a number increase on the screen above the arcade-like console, "so how about just sending the thing to the other side of the room this time? Nothing too drastic."

Squinting at the screen, Nathanial finished putting in the numbers for the other end of the ground bridge. He looked them over once, twice, three times before he was satisfied that they were correct.

"Well," he mumbled as he finished triple checking the calculations, "here goes nothing."

Holding his breath, Nathanial pressed the bright red button that Wheeljack had so considerately labeled 'go' for him.

There was a disappointing fizzle from the prototype bridge, and then with a high pitched whine that Nathanial only caught on the edge of his hearing, the machine kicked into gear and a bright green-white light suddenly appeared on the other side of the room.

A grin slid up one side of Nathanial's face. "So far so good," he told himself, holding back his excitement, "but now for the tricky bit."

He picked up the balled up piece of plastic and eyed the ground bridge thoughtfully as he tossed it up and down. The first time he had done this, the bridge had just spit the practice piece straight back out, and Nathanial had the bruises to prove it. The second time he'd been smart enough to duck and the third time the experiment had just been plain incinerated in true Wheeljack fashion. Now Nathanial had no idea what to expect.

"As long as I'm still in one piece by the end of this," he told himself. He'd started saying that after his seventh attempt. That had been a particularly strange one, even for something Wheeljack had made.

Tossing the ball into the air a few more times as he gathered up his courage, Nathanial watched the bridge. He'd have to double check later, but its light remained steady and even, reflecting the portal's own stability. It was fairly encouraging knowing it wasn't about to spontaneously implode or anything like that.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Nathanial quickly threw the ball into the waiting portal, and then just as quickly dropped to the floor, just in case.

The crumpled plastic sailed through the air and, with a swoosh, cleanly disappeared through the neon yellow and green vortex.

Only to reappear a few feet away seemingly out of thin air.

From his spot on the ground, Nathanial watched the crumpled up plastic from under his arms, which were at the moment protecting his head from anything _else _the prototype might decide to throw at him. His eyes followed it as it bounced once, twice, and then rolled across the counter before coming to a stop a foot or so away from Nathanial himself.

He blinked at the ball a moment, not sure if this was real or not. In the end he decided that it was.

"It worked," he mumbled into his shirt sleeve, shell-shocked. Then a disbelieving laugh escaped him. "It really _worked!_"

For the first time all day a grin appeared on the human's face. He scrambled to his feet and leapt in the air, whooping, "It works! By Primus it really works!" as he jumped around, not unlike a certain inventor had earlier that orn.

He didn't get long to celebrate however.

"Whoa!" A familiar voice chirped from the door in amazement. "You actually got Wheeljack's invention to function without barbequing you. That's got to be some kind of record."

Nathanial stopped his frog-like dancing and spun around at Bumblebee's words. The yellow mech was standing in the door across the room, a safe distance away. He was somewhat withdrawn, which even Nathanial knew was strange for the outgoing young mech, and there was a fair amount of self-reproach on his face, but Nathanial noticed that unlike before, he also looked determined about something. As if he wasn't leaving until he had done or said whatever it was he'd come down here for.

Remembering the last time he'd been left alone with the young bot, Nathanial stayed where he was, not wanting to get any closer just in case.

Bumblebee noticed Nathanial's hesitation and vented a sigh, as if he knew there was no one to blame but himself for that.

"Look," the yellow mech said in resignation, "I know I'm the last bot you want to see, given the whole," he looked away, embarrassed, "paint thing," he mumbled, but then shook himself and looked back up at Nathanial, "but I just came to apologize. For how I acted. I, uh, I shouldn't have done that." He told him guiltily, but earnestly.

Nathanial raised an eyebrow at the young bot, still a little suspicious. He hadn't expected this, especially from Bumblebee. He'd never seen the younger mech be so…mature before. Every time he'd run into him before, the yellow bot had been following Val's lead, hanging back in the youngest Wrecker's shadow as if he was afraid to take responsibility for what he was doing. Nathanial had pegged the yellow bot for a follower, something of a sheep really.

Now the human wondered if maybe he should start rethinking that first impression.

In the open door, Bumblebee was still fidgeting, ashamed of himself. "It was just," he said haltingly as he frowned at his hands, "I was mad at you, and I let it get the better of me. And, well, I'm sorry." He finally managed to wrangle the words out his mouth.

Nathanial scrutinized the young mech, trying to discern if this was some sort of trick. But if it was, he couldn't find any tells.

Stiffly, Nat nodded, accepting the apology. Bumblebee relaxed a little.

"Second to last." Nathanial mumbled as he turned back towards the ground bridge's control board and powered down the prototype machine.

Bumblebee cocked his head a little in confusion. "Huh?"

The green-white vortex evaporated with the whine of an engine slowing. Nathanial waited until it had disappeared before adding, "Technically you're the second to last bot I want to see right now."

For some reason Bumblebee looked away sheepishly. "Oh," he mumbled, "well, er, you _may_ not like this next part then."

A snort from out in the hallway kept Nathanial from asking what that meant. "Well if he's really not that keen on seeing me then I'll just be on my way and…"

Nathanial stared as Bumblebee suddenly lunged around the open doorway, grabbing the unseen Val before the other mech could slink away. "Oh no you don't!" Bumblebee muttered. "You said you'd do this, and then you made _me_ promise to make _sure you _did this. And, I quote, "Don't let me slither out of this 'Bee". So you're not gonna. Now get back _here!_"

Nathanial blinked as the sounds of a small scuffle came from beyond the door. Well this was…unexpected. If anything he had thought they would start arguing with him, not each other.

Obviously he still didn't know them very well.

The scuffling suddenly stopped as Val was bodily shoved through the open door. He stood there a moment, like a statue no one wanted because he had his arms thrown awkwardly to the side and his knees were bent towards each other like a colt just learning to walk.

Despite himself, Nathanial coughed up a laugh. Val looked ridiculous.

The young mech just stared at him, also very colt-ish in Nat's mind. "I can't do this." He said and began to turn around.

_"Now that," _Nat thought, _"was completely expected."_

Bumblebee must have thought so too because he was already there keeping Val in place. "Don't be such a robo-chicken." He muttered at him. "Just, tell him what you told me." He added in a friendlier tone.

Val blinked. "I don't remember what I told you."

Bumblebee just vented a sigh. Nathanial just leaned back against the control board and crossed his arms over his chest. After all the trauma Val had put him through (and the spectacularly bad day he'd been having) he would have been lying if he'd said he wasn't enjoying this at least a _little_.

"Come on Val." Bumblebee groaned. "Just say it already."

Val nervously pressed his index fingers together. "Mm-rry." He mumbled.

Bumblebee sighed again and smacked his face into his palm. Nat just raised an eyebrow at the mech. "Excuse me?" He asked.

Val looked over at his backup, optics clearly asking if he _really _had to do this.

Bumblebee just crossed his arms over his chest and nodded stubbornly. Nathanial almost laughed. For a minute there he reminded him of Optimus.

Val, used to this kind of Bumblebee more then Nathanial, vented an explosive sigh. "Alright!" He grumbled. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I'm-" He stopped before giving another smaller sigh and looking up at Nathanial across the room.

"I'm sorry." Val apologized again. He didn't realize it, but Nathanial thought that that time he sounded more like he had yesterday when he'd been talking with Aria. "I kinda…lost my head." He admitted reluctantly.

Bumblebee huffed a wry laugh at the understatement, but didn't say anything. He'd been just as bad in his way and he knew it.

For a few minutes, Nathanial didn't say anything, letting the two bots stew a bit in their own self-reproach. Finally though he straightened up from the control board and dropped his arms.

"Ouch," he said, "that sounded like it hurt."

Much to Bumblebee's surprise, instead of sending back some snarky comeback, Val groaned and covered his face with his hands. "You have no idea!" He moaned at the human. "Wreckers weren't built for apologizing!"

Nathanial laughed dryly. "No, they were built for terrorizing prospective boyfriends for their sisters with polka dots." He threw back, some bite finding its way into his words.

Val visibly flinched. "Yeah…" he drawled, "sorry about that…"

Nathanial slid him a look, but then nodded. "Jut as long as it never happens again." He mumbled.

Val drew an x over his spark. "On my honor." He intoned, holding up his right hand. But then he screwed up his face in distaste and leaned away from Nathanial. "Unless you _like_ dangling upside down and being spray painted…" he said slowly

Nathanial scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid." He told Val, but there wasn't any heat to his words, so Val didn't retaliate.

"So…" Bumblebee said slowly a moment later when no one else said anything. He was at a loss for words now that he had done his part to clear the air between him and his sister's new mech-friend, "whatcha doin' in here Nat? And where's Wheeljack?"

Val chuckled. "Yeah, isn't this _his_ job?" He picked up a welder and peered at it carefully, as if he thought it could explode at any moment just because it was Wheeljack's.

"Supposedly he's recharging on Ratchet's order," Nathanial told them, a small smile pulling at one corner of his mouth, "but I heard a bot that sounded suspiciously like him talking with Moonracer on my way down here."

The younglings grinned. "Somehow," Bumblebee said cheerfully, "that sounds more believable."

"So what are ya doing in here then?" Val asked casually as he put the welder down and moved on to the next shiny thing that caught his optic.

Nathanial glanced up at him briefly as he finished making the appropriate suggestions on the blueprints for Wheeljack to read over later. "Just…thinking," he fumbled, flapping a hand uncertainly.

Val cocked his head at the human, but then shrugged. He had meant 'what are you working on for Wheeljack in here' but he supposed that it didn't really matter since he had only been trying to make conversation.

"About what?" Bumblebee asked instead.

Nat blew a sharp sigh out of his nose, keeping his eyes focused stubbornly on the blueprints in front of him. "Just, just family." He finally muttered. Why did Bumblebee have to keep asking questions? Why _now_ of all times did he and Val have to go out of their way to be _nice_ to him?

"Oh," Bumblebee said, sounding sad. Nathanial noticed that the 'antenna' on his helmet sank down some, rather like Peg's ears. "Do you miss yours? Is that it?" He asked uncertainly, as if he wasn't sure if it was his place to ask about Nathanial's family at all.

Nathanial frowned but didn't say anything. He _should_ miss them, shouldn't he? Or at least, he should miss them more then he had. He hadn't thought about it until he'd overheard Aria talking with Val, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bluestreak yesterday, but he'd hardly thought of his family at all these past few weeks. He'd tried to figure out why that was last night as he lay there trying to sleep, but the answer, when he finally found it, had only kept him up.

He realized the yellow bot was still watching him, somewhat anxiously now, so Nat quickly cleared his throat and muttered, "Yeah, something like that." He told them.

"Man that tanks." Val said, drawing attention to himself again. He looked a little more relaxed now that the hard part of actually apologizing was over.

Nathanial snorted a laugh at the bot's candor, as well as the irony. "You'll get no argument from me there."

Val and Bumblebee shared an anxious look, but Nathanial, busy with the ground bridge control board again, didn't notice.

"So, erm," Bumblebee mumbled slowly, speaking for both of them now, "h-have you decided when you're going back and, uh, all that?"

Nathanial was too distracted even to notice the young bot's uncharacteristic stuttering. "No," he sighed, "not really." Then he gave an ironic kind of snort before going on. "To be honest, I'm not even sure I _want_ to go back."

Val and Bumblebee blinked t him, confused. "But didn't you just say-" Val started to say just as Bumblebee added, "But I thought you missed your family?"

Nathanial sighed in aggravation and swept a hand through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles. He could feel his frustration returning like a python coiling up his spine. "I do – sort of – but it's just," he scowled into thin air, trying to drag the right words out of their hiding places in the back part of his mind, "it's just that…I'm beginning to realize…or at least I'm starting to _think _that…that maybe I don't actually _know _any of them. At least not anymore…if I ever did at all." He muttered the last part sourly.

He instantly regretted saying that. You were supposed to be _loyal_ to your family, no matter how much they frustrated you and pushed you away. It was the one rule he had never broken. The one that had been drilled into him every day of his childhood; you stuck with your blood no matter what, even if they were wrong. Even if it meant siding against the people you actually loved.

_"Family comes first," _his father's voice boomed in his head, _"no matter what."_

Only Aria refused to live by that rule. Or if she did it was in such a convoluted way that Nat couldn't follow it. She had abandoned her blood family in favor of these aliens. The ones that had no rightful claim on her were the ones that got to keep her. It went against everything Nathanial had been taught about family and it was tearing his brain apart because, in the end, he wasn't completely sure she was _wrong._ How could it be wrong when she was obviously so happy here? With them?

The dark cloud that that had been shadowing him earlier suddenly reappeared in full force. Why couldn't he _understand?_ He just _had _to be missing something.

"Hey Val," Nathanial suddenly called out.

Val paused in his shiny-rummaging and looked up, question imprinted on his face. "What?" He asked anyway.

Nathanial tried keeping his eyes on the blueprints, but in the end he glanced up. He had to see Val's reaction.

"Do you miss him?" He asked suddenly. "Your dad I mean?"

Val blinked at him, obviously startled. "Of course." He told him, sounding as if this was a stupid question.

Nathanial nodded, silently agreeing with the young mech. It was a stupid question, but he thought he had to ask anyway.

"And, um," he said, stopping a moment before plunging on, "if – for some reason – he was here, right now, and you had to chose between him and everybody else that you care about – Bee and Aria and the others – could you do it?" Nathanial asked slowly.

Val frowned at him. "I don't get what you're asking." He admitted. "Why would I-"

"Just," Nathanial interrupted firmly enough that Val and Bumblebee drew back a little, "your dad – your family – versus the people you actually like, that you feel at home with. Could you do it?" He looked up at them, a strange uncertainty in his eyes that the young mechs couldn't understand. "Could you choose between them?"

Val frowned thoughtfully at the human. There was something else going on here, he could tell. The problem was that he couldn't tell what it was.

He sent a questioningly glance at Bee, but the yellow bot just gave him a small shrug. He didn't know what was going on either.

"Well," Val said, thinking the best thing he could do right now was answer the question, "no, I don't think I could."

Nathanial sighed, a powerful sense of relief washing over him. So he wasn't crazy. It wasn't just him. There was someone out there that saw the difference between family and friends – between loyalty and love – but couldn't choose between them either. Granted he was asking Val – the one bot that had probably come closest to actually wanting to _kill _him – but still-

"Nah, I definitely couldn't chose," Val said again, cutting off Nathanial's thoughts with an easy grin, "but I wouldn't have to either. Cause for me, they're pretty much the same thing."

Nathanial stared at him.

"Pretty much…the same thing…" he repeated in shock.

Val nodded. "Well, yeah." He said as if this was completely normal. "I mean, isn't it the same for you?"

_"No,"_ Nathanial thought scathingly, _"no they're not the same. They've _never_ been the same. They can't possibly _be_ the same."_

But a lifetime of repression kept the thoughts from turning into words and Nathanial only stared at the young mechs.

"Not…really…" he stiffly said when he realized that Val and Bumblebee were still watching him, waiting for some kind of answer.

"Oh," Val said awkwardly, not expecting that, "well then…"

"I think," Bumblebee said slowly as he looked the frayed organic mech up and down, "that we're going to leave you alone now. You're looking a bit gray around the edges Nat."

Nathanial nodded. He _felt _a little gray around the edges.

"Anyway, we'll see you around then." Bumblebee said as he pulled Val towards the door. The Wrecker just waved at him as he followed his bright yellow friend.

"Later Nat." Val called back over his shoulder.

Nathanial just nodded, not really listening. His inner thoughts were too loud, too chaotic, for him to make sense of any outside interference.

For a moment after they'd left, Nathanial stood there, hands propped against the control board for support, arms stiff so that he didn't fall forward and smack his face against the hard surface. With his luck, he'd probably hit the 'go' button, short something out, and end up halfway across the galaxy – again.

Then quite suddenly, Nathanial straightened up and left the room, long strides eating up the distance between him and the door.

He needed some air.

...

He was still airing himself out on the balcony later that evening when Aria found him.

"Hey there Nat," she greeted him in a softer voice then usual when she saw him standing at the edge of the balcony, hands wrapped tightly around the metal railing, "Ironhide said you looked like you were having a bad day earlier. You doing okay?"

Nathanial didn't look up from the city in front of him, but nodded to let Aria knew he had heard her. Before him spread out the remaining edge of Iacon, ragged and patched from countless battles. Below him sunk a dark abyss, one so deep he couldn't see the bottom of it. He rather liked the abyss. It matched his mindset, and somehow the external presence of it helped him feel calmer then if the abyss was only in his head.

"No," Nat finally answered Aria, "not really."

Aria made a sympathetic sound in the back of her throat as she stepped forward and rubbed his back with one hand. The other covered his hand on the railing.

Nathanial closed his eyes and gripped the railing a little tighter. He wanted to turn away from the abyss and wrap his arms around her and just stand there in the evening wind, but it felt disloyal somehow. As if he was choosing Aria over the people that had raised him. And that didn't feel right. No matter what their dysfunction was.

"Aria," Nathanial asked slowly, keeping his eyes focused on the darkness spreading out below him, "about the bots…" he trailed off uncertainly.

Aria drew back far enough to look at him. "Yeah?" She asked encouragingly.

Still, Nathanial hesitated. "Is it…difficult being away from them?" He asked her quietly. "Like the femmes being gone for so long?"

Aria gave a small stunted laugh. "Yes," she answered sadly, "as hard as it is being away from your own family." She murmured softly as she leaned her forearms on the railing next to him and gazed out at the city with him.

Nathanial shook his head somewhat disbelievingly with a snort. There it was again. That word.

Aria looked up at him and frowned, not liking that. "What?" She asked, slightly snappish.

"Nothing," Nathanial told her automatically, "just, nothing."

Aria's frown turned into a mild scowl. "Doesn't sound like nothing." She observed.

For a moment Nathanial struggled with himself. Would it be better to speak his wayward thought aloud, or would it be best not to say anything at all? Experience had taught him that it was generally safest to keep your thoughts to yourself, only this thought had been nagging at him all day and night and he was no closer to solving the mystery then before. And besides, he trusted Aria, didn't he?

Nathanial looked over at Aria frowning next to him and said somewhat cautiously, "Well, it's just that I've never heard you mention your real family with that kind of emotion before." He told her, keeping his voice firmly neutral. "That's all."

Aria frowned thoughtfully at him. Inwardly she flinched away from the subject, but she didn't want to appear like she was avoiding it on purpose so she mumbled, "Well it's difficult for me is all. I don't really like bringing them up if I don't have to." She answered him simply. She hung her head without any further explanation, preferring the horrifying view of the straight drop below her to any more talk about her original family; the ones she couldn't reach now no matter how hard she tried.

Nathanial nodded slowly as he stared down into the abyss of city below them as well. "Right," he said numbly, "of course."

A moment of silence passed, the only sound the wind whistling longingly in the couple's ears.

Finally, Nathanial straightened up, turning to Aria with a frustrated frown of his own. "It's just," he started haltingly, "how can you just not think about them? Your real family I mean?"

Aria glared a little at Nathanial. "Stop saying that." She told him, stubbornly ignoring the actual question.

"What?" Nathanial asked just a little too harshly.

Aria's eyebrows drew closer together as her irritation grew. "My _real _family." She bit back with a little too much sarcasm. "The bots are just as much my _real_ family as my biological one is. So stop implying that I'm only imagining things here."

Nathanial immediately blew out a pent up breath as he turned and frowned down at the abyss below them. "That's not what I meant." He tried to tell her.

"Well it sure sounded like it." Aria snapped. "You make it sound like I'm either nuts for thinking the bots are just as much my family as my original one or I just don't care about my parents and sister at all!"

"Don't you?" Nathanial shot back before he could fully process what he was saying. "In all the time I've been here you've mentioned them, what? A couple of times? When I asked about your sister the first time you thought I was talking about Arcee." He flung the fact at her like it was damning evidence in a courtroom.

Aria frowned at him, forcibly reminding herself to keep her head. "I don't understand," she said, taking a literal step back, "where is this all coming from?"

Nathanial pulled in a sharp breath through his nose as more angry words gathered in his throat. _"This isn't her fault," _he told himself as he gripped the hand railing tighter then strictly necessary, _"don't take your irritation out on her just because _you _can't understand."_

"Look," he said slowly a moment later, his voice strained in an effort to keep the useless accusations back, "from what you've said it sounds like you had a nice family back home. Parents that loved you, a younger sibling you were close with."

Aria nodded once, his casual past tense stabbing at her deeper then she had thought it would. "Well yeah…" she answered carefully, hugging herself, although Nathanial was too preoccupied with his own troubles to take notice.

Nathanial pulled in another breath of air through his nose and resituated his hands on the railing so the cold metal sent a shock through him, keeping him grounded firmly in the present.

"Well I don't have that." Nathanial snapped, unable to keep all of his frustration at bay. "My father's dead and my mother's as close to heartless as someone that's still living can be. I hardly talk to my brothers because they're so much older then me. They have their own lives and families to deal with. Miriam's the only one I can really count on and Mother goes out of her way to make sure we can't even speak to each other. But even then I've never just _abandoned _my little sister. And honestly," he snapped, scowl in full force as a day's worth of worrying and thinking himself in frustrating circles came crashing down on his head, "the fact that you won't even talk about yours is," he stumbled, but there was too much momentum in his rant for him to just stop now, "it's downright inhuman of you Aria!"

Aria's eyes instantly grew wide. Her mouth dropped open. What was it about the mechs she cared about – metallic or not – insisting on verbally slapping her this week?

Nathanial leaned on the railing again, growled, and then spun around to pace along the edge of the balcony. He prowled like a tiger in a cage, hands pressed up against the sides of his head as if that would force things to make sense again.

"Slaggit you're one of the lucky ones!" He suddenly shouted, sounding more torn then before as the day's pent up frustration suddenly exploded out of him. "Your family actually cares that you're _missing._" He finally stopped his anxious movement to look Aria full in the face. Aria didn't think she was imagining the childhood hurts resurfacing in his eyes. "And you've already gone and replaced them." He mumbled, sounding blown away.

For a single moment, Aria felt sad for Nathanial. She couldn't comprehend what his home life had been for him to feel the need to lash out at her about her calling Bee and the others her brothers, just like he couldn't comprehend what tied them so closely together.

But the moment was brief. After that she just felt angry.

It was almost an instinctive response, like Elizabeth Bennett's response to Mr. Darcy's first marriage proposal. Not only had Nathanial shouted at her, he had actually _insulted_ her. And over something he knew nothing about.

"Shut. Up." She told him firmly, resisting the urge to scream the words at him. "Just shut up. You don't know _anything _about my family, about _either _of them, so _you,_" she jabbed a finger at him with a furious glare,"don't get to tell me how I should feel about them! You don't have any idea of what I've lost!"

"You've lost a part of _yourself_!" Nathanial shot back.

"You're dang right I have!" Aria screamed, eyes suddenly very wet.

That stopped Nathanial in his tracks. He hadn't expected her to agree with him.

For a moment Aria stood there, stiff as a board, hands clenched at her sides so that her fingernails were digging into her palms. She had avoided this subject so carefully…but there was no going back now.

"I spent _years _here," she hissed, voice strained and eyes burning, "just _looking for her_. And when I finally did, when I finally found the-" she grit her teeth, baring them in a snarl as she tried to find a foul enough word for what she thought Shockwave was only to fail. She quickly backtracked, "-when I finally found her," she said instead, "she was so hurt," she grasped at words as her throat tightened, "and so broken inside…"

Aria squeezed her eyes shut, hot tears flooding the corners of her eyes before falling away as Sera's thin face appeared in her head, like one of her nightmares. She was too thin, and there were bruises on her cheeks that had no right being there…

But Aria drew in a ragged breath and quickly locked away the pain, trapping it somewhere safe in the back of her heart where no one could use it against her. She waited until she felt her eyes turn to stone before she met Nathanial's gaze again.

"It broke my heart." She told him icily. "And there wasn't a thing I wouldn't have given to stay with her. But I couldn't. Not if I wanted her _and _'Bee to live. So I made my choice." She flexed her fingers, clutching at nothing, before balling them into fists and slamming one down over what remained of her heart.

"_I _made _my_ choice." She said in words as hard as stone. "And because of that there's a good chance that I will _never_ see her again. So don't you dare-" she whispered, and then gave in to the urge to shout, "Don't. You. _Dare_ talk to me about abandoning my little sister as if I just-just _threw her away_." She hissed at him. "She was the _only_ reason I stayed here to begin with and now what do I have of her? A bunch of broken memories where she was crying because Shockwave turned her into a _science experiment_."

Aria stopped talking then. Nathanial watched her, mouth open slightly, as she bit her lip to keep from wailing. She wasn't going to let him see that deeply into her, not now.

Nathanial was floored. This was the most he'd heard her say about Sera. Ever. He had never expected the truth to be so horrifying…

Aria bit her lip and jabbed a finger at herself rapidly. "And you _blame _me for trying to rebuild what I lost?" She choked the words out of her tight throat.

He should say something, he thought, but he quickly found there wasn't anything he _could_ say. Across from him, Aria glared, but Nathanial couldn't tell if she was asking him to speak or daring him to try.

"I'm going to bed." She muttered a moment later. Then she quickly stalked back inside without another look in his direction.

Nathanial waited until the door had closed safely behind her before he swore.

"Brilliant!" He hissed at himself as he brought a fist down on the metal railing hard enough to send a tremor through it. "Absolutely brilliant you idiot! Just look what you've done now! Why can't you _think_ before you say anything?!"

He didn't bother to answer himself, just hit the railing again hard enough to hurt before giving up and leaning his elbows on it, hanging his head in his hands.

"Nathanial." A stately voice suddenly appeared behind him before he could properly sink into a sulk.

"_What?!"_ Nathanial shouted, all pretenses at patience disappearing.

He spun around, hands unconsciously balling into fists at his sides, but he stopped when he saw the old mech standing behind him.

For his part, Alpha Trion didn't look too put out by the human shouting at him.

"We need to talk Nathanial Hawthorne." The old mech told him simply, although Nathanial noticed that there was no room for argument in his steady voice.

Nathanial instantly deflated, his frustration evaporating like mist only to leave a hopeless sense of resignation in its place.

"Of course we do." He mumbled before trailing after the old mech, shoulders bowed hopelessly.


	26. Chapter 26: Things Fall Apart-Again

Wow...the time really got away from me, and for that I am sorry. However I am not sorry for not rushing this chapter. As you'll soon see, some pretty important things are finally straightened out here and I hope you like how they came out/and were written. :)

Now my blood sugar's low and my computer's acting free-ky. So I'm going to hurry this up. _**Thank you of course to my amazing reviews!** _I can't get to the review page to list your wonderful _glorious_ names, but rest assured that I love every review I see! So thank you thank you thank you! Especially for being so patient since I'm being so slow about updates. School cramped my style. But I guess that won't be true much longer since I'm graduation this Saturday!

Can we say...yikes?!

Anyway. I have a Christmas "story" planned and started. Hopefully the first chapter will be up either later today or maybe tomorrow. Soon. I hope...

Please leave reviews for this critical chapter! And I hope you're having a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday/Hanukkah/Seasons Madness-oops, I meat Seasons Greetings for that last one. ;)

...

The Long Road Home

26 – Things Fall Apart…Again – 26

Aria walked stiffly down the hall, shoulders hunched, arms crossed defensively over her chest, head down as she made her way through the familiar halls of the building. She just wanted to get home and crawl into bed and forget this had ever happened.

_"How could he even say that?!"_

She sniffed and walked a little faster, not knowing the answer.

_"I mean," _that little voice in her head that wouldn't shut up kept going, _"where did that even come from? I thought things were going so well and then…BOOM!"_

It was the only word she could think of to describe what had happened, but to her it felt like the only word out there that would fit.

_"I mean I wasn't even mad!" _Aria thought as she slouched towards her house._ "At least not until he started bringing up that 'real family' slag." _She snorted._ "They _are_ my real family! And I did _not _abandon Sera and my parents!"_

She paused.

_"Did I?"_

She didn't know. And worse, her chest hurt. All this unruly emotion was making her spark-heart shudder, like someone had reached a hand into her chest and had started rearranging her insides. It _hurt_. Like a real, physical injury.

The shuddering worsened in her chest and it started shaking down walls she hadn't even known she'd built. She gasped, hoping it would fade, but if anything it only hurt more. As if her heart had caught fire from the spark attached to it. It throbbed in her chest, making more tears leave her eyes.

Feeling sick, Aria leaned her arms against the cold wall next to her, resting her head against them as she waited for the wave of sickness to recede.

_"Aria?"_

Aria wasn't sure who sent the question and she felt too ill to try and sort out the different bonds tied to her. Instead she latched onto it with cold fingers and asked them to stay. She didn't want to be alone right now.

Whoever it was, they didn't pull back. Instead they were still for a long moment, staying close as if they were holding her hand. Then after some time, they seemed to step closer and wrapped fine, warm layers of love around her. It felt like being wrapped in a soft blanket and then being held by your best friend.

Aria hiccupped where she leaned against the wall, for the first time noticing she was shuddering and sweating feverishly. Her spark-heart still hurt like someone was squeezing it inside her chest, but she didn't dare move, afraid the nausea would swamp her again if she did.

Thoughts began to run through her head at dizzying speeds. She hadn't told Val this the other day, afraid it would make him feel worse, but there had been times when she had thought about what she would say if Nathanial ever _had_ asked her to come away with him. At first she'd always thought, _"Nah…I couldn't leave. Besides, that would never _actually _happen."_

But later, as things had gotten more serious between her and Nat, she had begun to think that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to go with him. To return to people. To love and be loved by her own kind, by Nathanial. A life with him wouldn't be so bad, would it?

But now…now she knew she could never leave. She could never live with herself if she ever left them. And _this _was why. This closeness, this feeling of being wrapped up in their arms even when they were miles away. She was so close to them that all she had to do was think their name and suddenly they were there with her, asking what was wrong.

After knowing what it felt like to know another living creature this intimately, anything less just felt…paltry. Like a shadow.

Leaving meant never being able to feel them again. Never knowing, soul-deep, that they were alright…

It was unacceptable.

So no, she could never leave them, not anymore. And so she had begun to entertain the idea – the hope really – that, maybe, Nathanial would…want to stay with her instead.

Now she didn't know what to think.

She was still standing there against the wall, trying not to think about anything when Optimus appeared around the far corner. He startled some, not expecting to see her there at this hour. But then he noticed her trembling and felt her shaking in her soul through their informal bond.

"Ariah?" He asked worriedly, quickly walking over to her small form. "Ariah what's wrong? Are you alright?"

Aria shook her head, not wanting to give a real answer, but Optimus was already there, crouched down next to her.

"What is it?" He asked again as he knelt in front of her so they could speak easier.

For a moment Aria couldn't make herself tell him. The wound was too raw. But for some reason she didn't quite understand, she opened her mouth and a half strangled gasp slipped out.

"He-" she mumbled as her eyes got all hot again, "he called me inhuman…"

That brought Optimus up short. It as a loaded word if he'd ever heard one. "He- what?" He asked, a little louder then he had meant to.

Aria slowly turned her head back towards the wall, her gaze not really focused on anything concrete as she nodded silently. "He thinks I've…_abandoned_…Sera." She almost choked on the name. She had been avoiding it for such a long time now that it was borderline impossible for her to make herself say it at all.

Automatically Optimus remembered the look on Aria's face – ages ago, literally moments after he'd been named Prime – when she'd refused to leave the planet without her sister, even in the face of the civil war breaking out above her head. He had been sure then, and he was positive now, that he would never meet anyone as stubborn as her, no matter how long he lived.

Clearly this new human didn't know half as much about Ariah as he probably should, Optimus thought, although he wasn't sure if that was his fault. For some time now, well before Nathanial had joined them in this madness, he had noticed Ariah becoming more and more withdrawn. It wasn't quite as bad with the bots she knew well, but Nathanial? The man that had started off as their unofficial prisoner? It didn't take much hard thinking to figure out Aria had felt safer keeping some things from him.

Even now, a part of Optimus still wanted to leave. Just walk away and shut out Ariah and her very personal admission. It would be so much easier to keep her more at arm's length and avoid any sticky, relationship issues.

But he couldn't do it again, not to her. Aria had been his very close friend for even longer then this war had been fought. She had believed in him – ironically enough – before he had even _been_ Prime, before it had even occurred to him that he _could _lead the Autobots. He owed it to her, if only because he had failed as her friend more recently then not.

Without a word he sat down next to Aria. He couldn't help but think that Elita had been right; he had been pulling away from those most important to him.

"Can you tell me what happened?" He asked Aria where she still leaned against the wall, needing its support to keep her upright.

Aria pulled in a ragged breath and nodded. Explaining didn't take very long.

"Optimus I," Aria hesitated after she'd told him about Nathanial's sudden accusations out on the balcony, "I'm- I'm not sure if I can face him." She admitted.

Optimus frowned. "Well," He asked her after a moment, "why?"

Slowly, Aria pulled away from the wall and hugged herself as she bit her lip. "Because he's right." She said quietly.

Optimus, still not sure what to say, waited for her to explain. He was surprised at how out of practice he was at just talking to her.

After another moment of lip biting, Aria slumped back against the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground, her legs drawn up close to her body. "Because he's _right_," she said again as if saying it somehow made this easier to explain, "It feels like I _have _lost some essential…humanness. And I _can't _talk about her." She told him sounding almost ashamed of her weakness. "But," she quickly continued. Optimus noticed she was wringing her hands where they sat on top of her up-drawn knees. "But it still hurts so much to think about S-" she stumbled over her sister's name, "about Sera that I," she swallowed hard, tears coming into her eyes, "I just couldn't handle it. And then if I pretended that this was all I had known," she gestured awkwardly at the building around them and the planet beyond, "that I was just like one of you, then it got easier. I could at least get up everyday and pretend that I wasn't so useless."

Optimus jerked back slightly at her words. "You've never been _useless_ Ariah." He told her forcefully. "How could you think that?"

Aria blinked another tear down her cheek, still refusing to look up. "Because I am!" She snapped with just as much force. "Because all I'm good for is checking off lists in storage rooms and being a distraction when you can't afford to have any." She trailed off in a dejected mumble.

Optimus was shaking his head before she was even done. "That's not true Ariah," he told her without hesitation, "you do much more then that. You," he tried to think of a way to explain just how much she meant to them. To all of them.

"You…remind us of," Optimus stumbled, searching for the right words, "of what we're fighting for. Of what's at stake if we give up."

Some confusion broke through Aria's automatic disbelief. But Optimus was relieved when she finally stopped hiding her face and looked up at him.

He frowned and tried to think of a better way to describe just how it was that the little human girl helped them without ever even leaving the city.

"Most of us," he said slowly, finding the right words as he went, "don't remember what it was like before the war." He told her somberly. "We can't remember what it was like to just walk down a street without being afraid of snipers or Seeker bombardments. We've been fighting so long that we're used to it." He told her heavily, thinking about the look he'd seen in most of the Autobots' optics, the one that told him they didn't look towards a future anymore, just the next battle. It was all they could do to scrape by and survive orbit to orbit, and he worried that if it got much worse then that look would either crush whatever hope the bots had, or it would drive them to the point where they would do anything to get out of this mess. Even if it meant justifying atrocities like what had been done to Sera. Even if it meant fighting like a Decepticon.

"It's stolen something from us." Optimus told Aria sadly. "Something that, somehow, you still have." He told her with no small amount of wonder.

Aria didn't look like she fully believed him yet. "I do?" She asked skeptically, but Optimus could still here the hope at the very edge of her voice. She hoped that he was right.

Optimus gave his human friend a grim sort of smile. "Yes." He told her. "You do."

Aria looked down at her hands, unsure of what to think about this. She looked up again when Optimus suddenly huffed a dry laugh.

"Did you realize that – out of everyone here – you're probably the only one that still believes that when someone tells you they'll see you tomorrow, you'll actually see them? The last time Jazz told me that my first thought was, 'If one of us doesn't die before then.'"

He shook his head at his own skepticism. "Sometimes I think that your miraculous faith is the only thing that keeps us going." He admitted. "I don't know about the others, but it makes me think that, maybe, eventually, things might still be better one day. That all this…suffering won't be for nothing."

Aria was silent for a long moment. She wanted to shrink away from Optimus' admission. They couldn't really use her faith as example, she thought anxiously, not when she sometimes only kept it by clinging onto it with fingernails she had bitten to the quick.

"It's funny," she mumbled some time later, "and here I always looked to you for hope."

Optimus tilted his head to look down at her with a bare smile. "Hopefully that means between the two of us we can hobble along well enough."

Aria snorted a laugh as an image of twenty-something foot tall Optimus actually _leaning_ on her five foot four frame. "Please don't mean that literally."

Optimus returned the dry laugh before the silence returned and he and Aria sat there for another handful of minutes.

Eventually a pained whine escaped her raw throat, and she reached up a hand to rub at where her spark-heart glowed somewhat through her shirt.

"It still hurts." She mewed.

Optimus nodded above her. "I know." He told her. "But things will get better. Either you'll work this out," he sighed not knowing if she wanted to hear this, "or you won't."

Aria looked up at him, gasping slightly.

"My point is that no matter what happens after this," Optimus said, "you _will _be okay."

Aria didn't say anything. Just looked back down at her knees. She was upset, yes, but did she really want to end her relationship with Nat?

What remained of her heart gave a shudder. No, she thought quickly, no she didn't.

Aria swallowed, stretching her tight throat. "What-" she croaked out uncertainly, "what do you think I should do?"

Optimus looked down at Aria. She was looking up at him, eyes swimming as she chased half-formed thoughts round and round her head.

Optimus vented a sigh. "I think you should be honest with him." He told her point blank. "Relationships generally don't mix well with secrets. But," he said slowly, seeing Aria's eyebrows draw together with thought and worry, "if you feel you can't talk about Sera yet, then tell him that. If he cares about you like I think you care about him, then he will understand."

Aria's eyes remained fixed on her knees, as if they were the only safe thing around for miles.

Carefully, Optimus nudged her. "And he does care about you Ariah." He told her gently.

Aria slowly blinked at him, eyes still bright with salt water. She didn't know what to say to that as she gave a sniff and pressed her palms against her eyes to try and dull the ache in them.

"I hope you're right." Was the only thing she could think to say.

...

Aria wasn't the only one upset that night.

Nathanial was silent as he followed Alpha Trion through the maze-like halls of Iacon to the old mech's office. A thousand thoughts were currently rushing through his head, none of them pleasant. If he wasn't kicking himself over his argument with Aria, then he was dreading his looming 'chat' with the ancient mech walking calmly in front of him.

Nathanial sighed, wishing he could just turn off his brain, if just for a moment. Maybe then this whole mess wouldn't seem as bad as it really was.

But of course he couldn't.

_"It isn't the right time," _his brain told him, unwilling even to give him a moment's peace, _"we can't tell them yet. Especially Aria. After what just happened she'll never speak to me again if I tell her now."_

Nathanial shut his eyes and swallowed hard. Around him the only noise was his and Alpha Trion's feet against the metal floor.

The inside of his head was a different story.

_"I'll tell her later then," _he told himself, _"when this whole stupid argument is behind us. When the time is right, _then_ I'll tell her the truth."_

Even in his head it sounded like a feeble defense, but it was all he had and he wasn't ready to let go of it just yet. Not without good reason.

Nathanial dragged in a deep breath as he nodded decisively to himself. _"Right," _he thought stubbornly, _"that's what I'll do. I'll tell Aria what's happened – happening, I guess – when the time's right."_

As Alpha Trion keyed open the door to his office Nathanial didn't give too much thought about what 'the right time' might look like, and the old mech interrupted his thoughts before he could come to the unfortunate realization that Peg was right; he was being stupid.

"Well human Nathanial – or is it Nat now? Oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter so much at the moment – here we are."

Nathanial followed Alpha Trion inside and the door automatically closed behind him, startling him some.

The old mech chuckled when he saw the human freeze and quickly look over his shoulder, as if he thought he'd just been caught in some sort of trap. The look in his eyes said he certainly felt trapped.

"I hope you won't be jumping at every shadow too much longer. You're making me rather nervous." Alpha Trion said with a grim smile as he sat himself down with an aged groan behind his desk.

Nathanial turned away from the closed door and gave Alpha Trion a look of disbelief. "I'm making _you_ nervous?" He gave one dry laugh. "If you're nervous what do you suppose I am?" He asked, not expecting an answer.

He still got one. "A strategically sewn together mass of carbon-based material that's a very long way from where you started?" Alpha Trion suggested with a small shrug.

Nathanial deflated somewhat and gave into the urge to hang his head. Why'd the old mech have to go and start talking like Peg at a time like this?

"Sure," the human said with a sigh, "why not?"

The human fell silent again, expecting Alpha Trion to redirect the conversation to what it was he'd asked Nathanial to come in here for. Only the old mech didn't speak either, just sat behind his cluttered desk top and watched the organic mech with surprisingly shrewd optics.

Finally Nathanial couldn't take it any longer. "What was it you wanted to say to me Alpha Trion?" He asked, trying not to think about how small his voice sounded in the ancient mech's office.

Alpha Trion leaned back in his chair, digits steepled thoughtfully in front of his thin chest. "Don't ask foolish questions Nathanial. We really don't have time for them right now. You already know why you're here."

Nathanial swallowed past the nervous lump in his throat. He'd been expecting this conversation for some time now – since Mirage and the femmes had arrived at least – but now that it was here, he wished he could put it off a little longer still.

"This is about my cargo isn't it?" The man asked carefully, unable to meet the old mech's optics now.

Alpha Trion nodded simply. "It is." He said.

"You already know what it is, don't you?"

Alpha Trion nodded again. "Yep."

At any other time, Nat was sure he would have laughed at the out of place word, but now he just blew out a hissed breath of air and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. He started to turn in a tight anxious circle, but stopped uncertainly before he took more then a step to his right.

"I didn't know what it was!" He suddenly said, hands splayed out in front of him to protest his innocence. "If I had known what that lens did, then I would have told Prime and the others that it was here-" he stumbled on, but Alpha Trion smoothly stepped in, not wanting this to get out of hand.

"But you didn't." He stated calmly, not as an accusation, but as a fact in general. "And if you don't tell them now, then they won't be prepared for what's coming." Alpha Trion leaned forward on his desk, fixing Nathanial with a stern, bird-like set of optics.

"It's time to come clean Nathanial Hawthorne." The old mech stated firmly.

Nathanial swallowed hard against his sudden fear. An involuntary shudder ran down his back. For some reason, something Val said echoed in his head.

_"All I have to do is wait for you to mess things up."_

_"Frack," _Nathanial thought automatically, _"and just after he decided I wasn't a menace to society too."_

He tried to laugh at himself, but he couldn't. Because the inescapable fact was, he _had _messed up. Big time.

Across from him, Alpha Trion leaned back in his chair, freeing Nathanial from his sharp stare, although not from the cold fear that had suddenly invaded Nathanial's chest and stomach.

"I was rather hoping you'd have done it on your own by now," Alpha Trion said when it became clear Nathanial didn't have anything to add to the present conversation, "but you haven't, and now we're running out of time. You need to tell them how you got here."

That managed to snap Nathanial out of his space-out. "_I_ don't even know how I got here!" He told him forcefully.

Alpha Trion watched him shrewdly again, and was a little surprised to see that Nathanial wasn't lying. "Really?" He asked with an edge of disappointment in his voice. "Oh, well that's a little bit of a let down. That would have made things easier for you in the end." The mech sighed. "Oh well. It's still time to tell them the truth human Nathanial." He grinned around the edges of his mouth. "'Let the cyber-cat out of the bag' I believe you humans say. Although why you keep mechanical felines in storage is lost on me. It seems like a waste of time and effort, not to mention painful since I can't imagine they want to get in the bags in the first place…" he trailed off thoughtfully, probably still trying to make sense of the bizarre human saying.

Nathanial didn't have enough attention to start explaining all the things culturally-wrong with what Alpha Trion had just said. "You want to talk about the truth?" He snapped back instead, suddenly angry with the old mech for being a hypocrite. "You haven't exactly been honest with them either! Or were you planning on telling them that one of their mystical Thirteen isn't just alive, he's still on the _planet_?" He shot, but was still careful enough to keep his voice down in case someone happened to be walking by at that exact moment.

Alpha Trion took this much better then Nathanial had thought he would. He just shrugged again and leaned even farther back in his chair so that it was almost touching the reinforced window behind him. "Well they'd be a lot less surprised if they knew how many of us were still alive anyway," he told Nathanial causally.

Nathanial nearly went bug-eyed at the thought of _more_ legendary Cybertronians – the very oldest and most powerful of them all – just wandering around the universe at large.

_"Oi." _Nathanial thought.

Alpha Trion went on talking, aware of the look on the man's face and secretly finding it more then a little funny. "But what I really want to know," he said, rocking in his chair slightly, making it creak, "is how you recognized me in the first place. It's not exactly something I try to broadcast, but you and Peg picked it up immediately when you both saw me."

Nathanial was still having trouble with the idea of ancient, powerful beings roaming the universe, and the old stories he'd heard about Nexus Prime and Liege Maximo when he was small weren't exactly making things any easier.

Numbly he jerked a thumb at the door behind him. "Peg felt it, even when I saw you and she didn't-"

"That was when you almost blackened your eyes b burying your face in the floor yes?" Alpha Trion asked.

Nathanial nodded vaguely. "Peg said it felt like recognizing someone she saw in pictures, but hadn't met before. She knows your one of the Thirteen because Nexus Prime created her race. It left some kind of imprint on the Equines. Or you and they share some internal…thing which lets them all recognize one of the thirteen original Cybertronians."

"All of these creatures can do this?" Alpha Trion inserted curiously.

Nathanial nodded. "Yes, all of them. And consequently their riders too, since we're bound so close together."

Alpha Trion began to nod. "I see." He said slowly. "And the – what did Peg call me before? – a master's Master?" He mumbled, trying to remember what the techno-organic had called him when she had first seen him for herself, that day when Mirage had first left the city.

Nathanial nodded. "Equines are herd animals, and their herds have a distinct hierarchy. A Cybertronian made them, so the Equines recognize them as masters. And you're one of the original Transformers, the-"

"Masters' Master." Alpha Trion repeated with him, nodding as Peg's peculiar speech began to make more sense. "I see." He said again, still nodding.

Nathanial gave his own uncertain nod. "It's also why she keeps calling Elita-One Boss-Mare." He added, not knowing what else to say.

Alpha Trion laughed at that. "Ah, yes I see it now. And Peg says she is like me-"

"Because Nexus Prime came up with the design of her race, which we believe was based slightly off of his own." Nathanial finished for him.

Alpha Trion didn't say anything else for a moment, a reflective look in his optics as if he was remembering something from a very long time ago. "You know, that _sounds _like Nexus." He mumbled.

Nathanial stood there awkwardly, getting the feeling that Alpha Trion hadn't said that to him exactly. "I'll-" he stuttered not sure how to get Alpha Trion's attention again, or even if he really wanted it, "-take your word for it."

The human's words didn't break Alpha Trion out of his far away gaze so Nat stood there quietly, feeling awkward and more then a little confused.

"You know what I don't understand?" Nathanial said a moment later, not sure if the old mech would answer him or not. "You're one of the first Thirteen-"

"If you can't understand that part yet then there's no hope for you Hawthorne." Alpha Trion answered smoothly although his full attention did not come back to the present.

Nathanial shot the reminiscing mech a flat look before continuing. "-but you're still sitting in this office," he spread his arms to take in the surrounding room, "acting like a head librarian." He dropped his arms and shrugged. "I don't understand. Why?"

"First of all," Alpha Trion said, leaning back in his chair again to fix abruptly focused optics on his guest, "the term is _Archivist_." He held up a digit. "If I ever hear you use the L-word again I will fling you into space, yes?"

Nathanial tried not to look too confused. "O-kay…" he said slowly, "but are you going to tell me why?"

Alpha Trion looked up in thought. "Well because there's is a very important distinction between the two. That and I don't _like _being called a head librarian and I _could_ get you into space, theoretically at any rate-"

Nathanial held out a hand, "No, no," he put in quickly, "that's not what I meant. I meant aren't you going to explain why you're still pretending to be a librar-"

Alpha Trion slanted him a meaningful look.

Nat quickly backtracked. "I mean, er, _Archivist _of course."

"Hmm…" Alpha Trion grumbled at the man. "If you had let me finish," he started pointedly, "you would have heard me say that I was never pretending. I've always done this human Nathanial. Since the world began. Or shortly after that anyway." He added like an afterthought. "Each of us Thirteen had our job to do as it were, something we were meant to do or look after until, oh, I suppose the end of time."

He shrugged. "Of course, half of us died before we even got close, so it might be that somebody just didn't think this whole thing through…"

Nathanial blinked. "Uh, sure." He mumbled.

"Take Vector Prime for example." The old mech went on, unaware – or perhaps just ignoring – the confused, still slightly uncomfortable look on Nathanial's face. "He was in charge of time and space. Still is I believe, since he's still out there, unless something appeared out of a different dimension and swallowed him up without my knowing."

Nathanial instinctively drew back and warily looked over both his shoulders to make sure that nothing 'other-dimensionally' was trying to sneak up on him through a supposedly solid wall.

"After our…well, I suppose you could call us a family – odd, awkward, and painful though we were, but since then I've found out that most families are kind of like that – after our family broke apart with the Fallen's betrayal, Vector left this universe. Now he's off in a pocket dimension somewhere-"

"Of course he is." Nathanial mumbled numbly.

"-still drops by every few millennia or so actually. He tells me that he found a very curious corner of the universe where a number of different dimensions intersect. Says it's like watching a card game where he can see all the players' hands but none of the players actually know what they're doing." Alpha Trion smiled as if this simile made perfect sense.

Nathanial stared at him, wondering how he could still be surprised by anything the Archivist said. "Because that's what _everyone_ thinks when they're watching different dimensions playing out at the same time." He muttered, talking more to himself then the old mech across from him.

But Alpha Trion heard him anyway. "Really?" He asked inquisitively before looking down at his desktop. "Oh. Well don't tell Vector that. He thought it was a new way of looking at the universe. He'll be very disappointed if he hears that it's actually a cliché."

Nathanial suddenly thought that now was only a slightly less better time to just stop talking then a few moments ago.

"He's told me about most of them actually," Alpha Trion went on, seemingly half aware of his present surroundings. "The other dimensions I mean. There's one where everyone sounds different, which is odd I think since why would a change in your life affect your voice after all?" He shrugged by didn't wait for an answer. "There's another," he laughed, "where everyone has ridiculously large chins." He pantomimed what he said over his beard with a dry chuckle before sobering again.

"There's one where everyone has a beast alt-mode like Logos Prime," he continued with a sage nod, "which will make him insanely happy if he's still online out there somewhere. And there's even one" he said slowly, optics unfocusing as he once again stared at something that wasn't in the room with them, "where we are not ourselves…"

He trailed off, catching Nathanial's attention. "Where you are not…you?" He asked, just to be sure.

Alpha Trion nodded slowly, staring off into the space just above his natural eye level. "Yep."

Honestly Nathanial could not think of any universe where the Autobots – or Aria – were not themselves…whatever that meant.

Across the room, Alpha Trion leaned forward with a groan and rested his forearms on an open book in the center of his desk. Despite the distance between them, Nathanial found he didn't want to get much closer to the old mech's scrutinizing gaze. "That's part of the reason why I can't tell them who am I, you see?"

Nathanial's eyes flicked to the side. "Uh…" he stammered, "no, not really."

"Well, Nathanial Hawthorne," Alpha Trion began, his teaching voice clear in the room, "the simple truth is that I know too much. Anything I can tell them to do would lead to a certain set of results. Ones I already know about from the different dimensions Vector Prime told me about, for his own good reasons." He added quickly.

"I would be playing god." Alpha Trion told the man plainly. And then, strangely enough, he glanced away, looking irritated at somebody not there, and muttered darkly, "And that's what got us in trouble in the first place."

"So," Nat said out loud, the pieces clicking into place, "you don't want to mess with their choices, their free will? That's why you won't tell them?"

Alpha Trion came back from wherever he'd been and looked back at Nathanial. "Yes." He told him. "That's exactly why. It all comes down to free will Nathanial. It's why we fight, why we live, why-"

"Why we are in this mess to begin with?" Nathanial interrupted somewhat snarkily.

But Alpha Trion only smiled pleasantly and pointed one digit at the human. "Yes, precisely."

Nathanial sighed, not encouraged by the Archivist's words. "Well what about now then?" He asked, voice more emotional then he liked. "What about me? You're ordering me to go out there and tell them-"

Alpha Trion stepped in quickly. "Oh but I'm not ordering you to tell them."

Nathanial frowned at him. "But you said-"

"I said you _need_ to tell them, yes," Alpha Trion admitted, "but when it comes down to it, there's nothing _I _can do that will make _you _do this."

"You could put a gun to my head." Nathanial grumbled.

Alpha Trion just blinked. "And even then you could chose to die instead." He stated clearly. "See? Choice. Free will. Very important." He said.

Nathanial was still a little thrown by the whole idea of being shot, and so wasn't listening as well as he should have been.

"But," Nathanial stumbled out a moment later, eyebrows drawing together as he thought, "you've been telling them things, giving them help. Most of the time they'd never have known what was really happening if you hadn't told them about it." He pointed out.

"I've made suggestions." Alpha Trion admitted. "And I've asked questions that, hopefully, made them _think_, which is a lot harder then anyone gives it credit for I might add."

"Well then why isn't this like those times?" Nathanial asked. "Why do you need _me?_" He asked.

For a long moment, Alpha Trion didn't speak, just watched the distressed human standing in front of him. Finally, he leaned forward with a sigh.

"Because things happen for a reason, Nathanial. _You_ are here for a reason."

Nathanial gave a stunted, humorless laugh. "And what is that?" He asked almost hopelessly. "To become their friend and _then_ tell them that I've brought the single most powerful weapon they've ever seen – which their _enemies_ have now by the way – with me, just in time to ruin everything?" He huffed a hopeless laugh. "What a fine destiny that is." He mumbled.

Alpha Trion didn't try to correct him. Mainly because things were pretty much that bad anyway.

"That's not the only reason you're here." He told him instead. "But yes, I do believe that's part of it."

The strength went right out of Nathanial's shoulders. Depression swamped him. Inside, he _knew_ Alpha Trion was right, the Autobots had to know what was causing dark energon. And he _should_ have told them ages ago, but…well he hadn't. And now he dreaded to think of how they would react.

Dear Lord, what would Aria say?

...

"You did _what?!"_

Aria's words echoed throughout the small reading room they were in, finding every hidden corner and slamming through it, shaking off dust and rattling awake ancient dust bunnies. Nathanial, standing on the table with her, flinched back, but didn't try to defend himself.

Across from him, Aria could only stare. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't even be _real_. What kind of sick joke was this that someone thought it was funny for her boyfriend to come up here and tell her that he was the reason the dark 'cons existed? And he was only telling them about this _now_? If the twins were behind this she _may_ actually kill them this time-

"I brought the lens here." Nathanial said again, sending another twist of pain through Aria's heart. "My herd was transporting it to the city to be stored away back home. We were attacked by wraith and it must have ended up with me somehow because when I woke up here, it was in my saddle bag. I thought I was still on Atala, so I buried it out in a cave so the wraith wouldn't find it, but then Bumblebee and Aria found me and brought me back here."

"And you never had a chance to go back?" Prowl asked, sounding somewhat hopeful even for him. "You just reasoned Megatron had this lens when you learned of the darkened Decepticons?"

Aria spared enough attention to turn half around and look at Prowl where he was standing by the map table she and Nathanial were standing on. He wasn't alone. Optimus, Elita, Jazz, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Chromia were all with him, staring down at Nathanial with looks that varied from shock to censure.

They knew the answer when Nathanial looked down at the table. "No." Nathanial said, voice restrained, "I went back to check on it when Bluestreak, Bumblebee, Val and the others first arrived. In all the chaos, I managed to slip out with Peg. But when we got there, the lens was gone."

"And you just forgot to mention this?" Chromia muttered angrily.

Nathanial, head still bowed, didn't answer.

The blue femme snorted and shifted her weight to her other foot as she glared at the human. "What? No excuses?" She snapped. Even she was a bit rattled by Nathanial's sudden confession.

For a minute Nathanial thought about just sticking to his plan of keeping his mouth shut. It wasn't like him saying anything would make them any less angry.

That and he didn't feel any of this was undeserved exactly.

But for some reason he heard himself answer her anyway.

"No," he said without emotion, "no excuses."

He heard another rustle of movement as Chromia fidgeted angrily in place, but she didn't say anything else.

For a long moment, no one said anything. Nathanial figured they just didn't know what to say to this.

But then-

"This…is all your fault?"

Nathanial looked up at the soft, disbelieving words. From the look on Aria's face, he figured she could hardly believe it herself. She looked like she was in the middle of a nightmare and all she wanted was to wake up and realize that this wasn't really happening.

Nathanial looked back at the floor, wishing something of the same thing.

He missed the change in Aria's expression when he didn't deny it.

"This." She said forcefully, furious now. "Is. All. _Your. Fault."_

Nathanial flinched, but still didn't speak. He wanted to reach over and take her hand or touch her shoulder, do _anything _that might show her that he had never meant to keep this from her. That he'd just fallen into a trap because he hadn't told them about the lens from the get go. And that he'd been living in fear of the truth ever since he'd realized just how much she cared about them, and how much he cared about her…  
>Imagine his surprise when Aria abruptly reached out and shoved him hard with both hands.<p>

"I nearly lost my brothers because of you!" She screamed as he stumbled back, nearly falling on his backside. "Cloudraker nearly _died_ because of that _thing!_"

Nathanial finally regained his balance and stared at Aria with wide eyes. Her eyes were rapidly turning red as salt water started to fill them up. Her lips here pressed tight together as if she was trying to keep something back, but Nathanial couldn't tell if she was holding back shouts or sobs.

"And you brought it here." She accused him, voice rough.

Nathanial swallowed hard. There was nothing to say, no defense he could use. Because she was right. He had brought the lens here, even if he hadn't meant to.

Before Nathanial could think of anything to say, Aria suddenly twisted where she stood a few feet away. He watched with some small amount of embarrassed horror as she struggled out of her shirt, revealing a camisole that had once been a bright pink, but due to constant washing was now a dingy gray.

Nat made to look away – why the heck was she removing clothes now of all times?! – but stopped when he realized that she still had the camisole on. And that something was shining through it from underneath. Something that was actually _inside_ Aria's body.

Aria threw her top on the ground at her feet and glared at him, blue eyes seething.

"You want to know so fracking bad why I keep insisting they're my family?!" She demanded furiously. "Well this is why!" She screamed, voice threading out in the middle between her fury and her constricted throat.

Nathanial gawked, hardly believing what he was seeing. The glow, it couldn't actually-no he was seeing things- it wasn't even _possible_.

But the part of his mind that was more Peg then Nathanial told him with certainty that it was. The glow was most definitely a spark.

Which meant that the bots were to Aria what Peg was to him, Nathanial realized with horror. And he'd just broken the one rule that no Equine rider ever had; don't ever attack a tether bond. Rider and mount were tied together so tightly that cutting them apart would either end in murder or insanity. Doing anything that led to that was…unforgivable.

The conviction that he had just done something unforgivable – that _he_ was unforgivable – seeped into Nat like a stain that could never be washed out and he sagged under its heavy weight.

Aria was still glaring at him, and if she noticed his renewed shame it didn't have much of an effect on her.

"I was dead Nathanial." She told him, voice a little leveler then before. _"Dead."_ She said again. "Most of my heart had just – poof! – gone up in smoke. And the only reason I'm still here is because they gave up parts of themselves to pull me back.

"It scared the life out of me at first to be honest," she told him, a false calm suddenly overpowering her desire to scream and shout. "I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. The idea of being so-" she pinched her finger tips together in an effort to show the word she couldn't quite think of, "-tied up together." She finished. "I couldn't tell you yet, but I thought that, with Peg, _you_ of all people would be able to understand how close I am to them."

The anger suddenly returned in full force. "But then it turns out that _you're_ the one that tried to take them away from me!"

She must have run out of things to say, because she suddenly huffed out a breathless gasp, as if she was trying to keep from screaming, as she looked up at the ceiling and the bookcases that lined the walls, trying to look at anything other then the man in front of her.

Eventually she ran out of things to stare at. When she locked eyes with Nathanial for the last time, he noticed they were bright red and full of unshed tears, and the knowledge that he had hurt her so badly rocked him.

"You're going to tell them what you know," she told him suddenly, "and when you're done you're going to leave. Don't look back, don't pass go, don't collect your two hundred bucks. Just go through that ground bridge back to Atlantis or Atala or wherever the heck you're from so you can make someone else's life Hell."

Not bothering to wait and see if Nathanial had anything to say to that, Aria spun around and quickly walked away from him. Nathanial thought she had told him everything she wanted to say, but at the edge of the table she stopped. She didn't turn around and he saw that her fists were clenched down at her sides, arms so stiff they were trembling.

"Don't you ever speak to me again." She whispered brokenly.

And then she was gone, off the table and walking briskly across the room because she refused to let him see her run. And then the door closed behind her with a disappointingly quiet 'shuff'.

Nathanial stood on the table, staring open mouthed at the closed door. His brain had stalled under the crushing realization of what had just happened and the overwhelming knowing that it was his own fault. He had lost her, he realized. He would never even see her again.

Outside the door, Aria abruptly stopped. She couldn't remember how to walk all of a sudden. She could hardly remember how to breathe. Her chest felt so cold and not even the hot warmth from her spark-heart could keep the coldness from seeping down her arms and legs.

She had thought that she had hurt earlier, but this was worse. Her heart hurt so bad it made her numb. It was like she was filled with nothingness. There was nothing left in her chest now but a void, a lack of existence that left her so empty it hurt.

Distantly she felt Elita try and wrap her in love, but it just sort of slid off of her. Elita tried again, but she couldn't reach Aria and Aria had forgotten how to move. Even farther away she felt Chromia and Ratchet's rage and even farther back was Optimus' worry for her. Ironhide felt rather withdrawn, which would have struck Aria as strange if she'd been able to think at the moment. She couldn't even feel the others right now. They were too far away and she was too far gone.

Either way she couldn't reach any of them. It was like they were all water and she was suddenly coated in oil. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Aria wondered if perhaps she was going into shock.

_"How could he?" _The thought slowly seeped into her head. _"How could he? Didn't he- didn't he know how much he meant to me? How much I liked him? How much I might have even-might have even loved him?"_

She broke then. Even the overpowering numbness wasn't enough to keep her from sinking down as tears streaked down her face. She covered her face to try and mute her frantic sobbing, but she still felt like everyone could hear her.

A powerful sense of concern suddenly washed over her, clearing away some of her numbness and making her look up.

Val, Bumblebee, and Arcee were suddenly standing there and as she watched, Bluestreak skidded into sight behind them. They had come out of nowhere, but Aria was still surprised she hadn't noticed them before now.

They stood there for a moment, looking breathless and frightened. Aria saw they knew what had happened, probably through Bluestreak and Bumblebee's connection to her. She also saw they were just as shocked as she was, even Val.

The youngest Wrecker watched her with worried blue optics. Yes, he knew, but she saw that even Val hadn't thought Nat would do something like _this._

Wordlessly, Val leaned down and held out his hands for his sister. Without needing to be asked twice, Aria hiccupped and ran forward. She couldn't stand being alone right now.

Val didn't say anything as he scooped Aria up. He knew that anything he said now would just sound like a big, fat, 'I told you so' and he didn't want that.

So he just sat there quietly and held her close, with the others putting their hands around her or reaching out to her in their own way. And in the silence they held her. Just like she had held each and every one of them when they'd been younger and their world had ended in one way or another.

...

The silence that appeared after Aria left nearly made Nathanial's heart stop altogether. All this time he'd been telling himself that he'd done the right thing – not telling them about the lens – he had followed orders like he was supposed to because that was a soldier's duty, even after they ended up on other planets. And even if he was suddenly transported back in time to do it all over again, he wasn't so sure he'd do anything differently.

Nathanial just couldn't see any other path he could have taken, not without breaking either his oaths or Aria's heart. Every possible choice he could have made all seemed to lead right back to where he was now. Standing on a table top, surrounded by aliens, with Aria wishing he were dead.

Not sure what to do now that Aria had left, Nathanial stood there on the top of the table, not really wanting to move. Above and around him, the Autobots stood just as still, passing their own individual judgments on him, Nathanial felt.

Listlessly, he glanced up at their faces. Ratchet and Chromia were obviously livid, and he thought that Elita-One looked very sad, but he thought that was more for Aria's sake then his.

Prime looked…disappointed.

Nathanial continued looking at the faces surrounding him. For the most part they were unreadable, even Ironhide's. A slight edge of surprise tried to dig its way out of Nathanial's depression. _"That's strange," _he thought dully. Out of all the bots, Nathanial had dreaded Ironhide's opinion the worst. But now he was so calm…

Nathanial thought that freaked him out more then Ironhide's outrage would have.

"So how's it work?" Ratchet finally broke the silence.

Nathanial slowly looked up at him, not quite able to care about the fact that the old medic looked like he wanted to stamp him out of existence right then and there.

"What?" Nathanial asked.

Ratchet's glare deepened. "The lens!" He shouted. "How's the dang thing work?"

Nathanial told the truth. "I don't know."

Ratchet huffed angrily. "Don't give me that! You brought it here!"

Some bare emotion managed to creep back into Nat's face. He frowned in annoyance up at Ratchet. "But I don't know how it _works_." He stressed.

Ratchet propped his hands on his hips, obviously not giving up yet. "Well you've got to know _something_." He insisted. "How did you contain it for the journey? Does it burn? Zap? Bite? Turn you into a cloud of organic dust if you look at it funny-"

"I don't know!" Nathanial shouted. "I never even touched it before I landed here! We were just the security guard to make sure it got to the city in one piece. None of us knew what it did! Our instructions were to take the dang thing to the capitol so it could be buried in a vault somewhere and never be seen again!"

"Sounds like it didn't want to be buried." Jazz mumbled, but even he didn't sound like his usual self.

"What _do _you know about it?" Optimus asked gravely, keeping Ratchet from jumping down the human's throat again.

Nathanial's eyes remained stubbornly locked on the empty air in front of him, hands clasped behind his back in a parade ground rest. "I knew it was dangerous." He told them, voice now carefully reserved after his outburst. "But that's about all any of us knew, other then that it was some kind of ancient relic from the dawn of civilization." He shrugged, but his face wasn't nearly as calm. "There were stories that it could make Equines mad with just a touch, but we didn't believe them. They were just…too outlandish." He admitted with an ironic kind of laugh.

Despite the reserve he was trying to shield himself with, he looked like he urgently wished he had listened to those stories now.

Ironhide made a sound in the back of his vocal processor. "Well now that we know what's making dark energon, what do we do now?" He asked, turning to look at Prime.

Everyone else did the same.

However something else had caught Optimus' attention and a moment passed before he said anything.

"You didn't bring it," He eventually spoke up, confusing the others with the sudden change in subject, "it brought _you._"

He was looking at the human standing on the top of the table, so it was Nathanial that gave the following, "What?"

"The lens you said you brought with you," Optimus clarified, sounding even more convinced that his theory was true, "that's not what happened. _You _came with _it_."

Nathanial stared at him, still a little confused. Finally he gave a muffled sigh and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "Wait, I thought the space bridge brought us here. Like with Aria." But then seeing their uncertain looks he added, "Isn't the space bridge the only thing that _could_ have brought us here?"

But Optimus was already shaking his head. "No, and you didn't materialize anywhere near the space bridge like Aria did. There wasn't any unusual activity from the bridge around the time you appeared either . The space bridge didn't have anything to do with this." He insisted, only now just wondering how he hadn't seen this before.

With everything else that had just happened, Nathanial wasn't exactly in the mood for games. "Well then how'd Peg and I get here?" He almost demanded, just barely reminding himself that he was in no position to demand anything from anybody.

Optimus' optics narrowed as he mentally ran over the different options. "I'm not sure, but I think," he said slowly, "that Megatron must have been searching for something powerful to give him an edge."

Nathanial raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "And he just happened to stumble on a lens that just _happened _to create dark energon? After I buried it in the middle of nowhere? Before anyone even knew I was here?" Even if he hadn't laid the sarcasm on thick his disbelief would have been blindingly clear.

Nat spread his arms wide in disbelief. "How could he have found it so quickly after I hid it?" He demanded. "_I _barely found it again, and only with Peg's help. She and the other Equines could always sense it. It put them on edge. Although now that I know what it does that makes a little more sense." He mumbled mostly to himself.

The Prime just nodded as if this made sense, to him if nobody else. "Exactly. Megatron shouldn't have been able to find the lens that fast, buried in no man's land. Decepticons rarely go there since it's so close to Iacon and has little tactical advantages."

"So he didn't just stumble over it." Prowl said, now beginning to understand his leader's line of thought.

"He was lookin' for it." Jazz added. Nathanial couldn't tell if he sounded more surprised at how much foresight the Decepticons had put into this or more outraged that they hadn't seen the bigger picture until now.

"So then he musta already known where it was." Ironhide rumbled.

"At least in general." Ratchet agreed darkly.

"Which probably means," Optimus picked up again, "that he was the one who found and _brought_ the lens to Cybertron in the first place." He paused minutely as he gave Nathanial an acknowledging nod. "And consequently you and Peg with it."

Nathanial was just as shocked as the rest of them. All this time he'd thought it was a coincidence; that some cosmic force of nature had sucked him into this madness to be some unintentional villain. But now he found out that none of this could have been accidental at all. There was a good chance that Megatron had been actively searching for a new weapon and had found that the Atalan's lens fit the bill…

This new strain of thought did not make Nathanial feel any better about his part in this. Actually the knowledge that this would have happened whether he was here or not somehow made Nathanial feel even worse, in a depressingly insignificant kind of way.

Dimly, Nathanial heard the edgy murmurs of the bots above his head, although the only concrete thing he heard was Chromia's muffled curses.

"So what's he doing now?" She asked loudly, suddenly restless. "He's got the lens, he's figured out how to use it. What's he going to do with it now?"

Before anyone could answer, an urgent message came through the command line.

Optimus opened the line so that the other officers could hear as well. "Yes what is it?" He asked quickly.

A brief burst of static came through before a hushed voice followed it. In the background they could hear the high pitched whistle of quickly moving air and the continuous grind of treads and feet against hard packed ground.

"Prime?" The mech on the other end whispered as if he was afraid of being overheard. "Megatron just passed the north highway checkpoint leading what looks like the entire Kaon base. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like they're headed up to Tyger Pax. It's the only thing around here besides the wastelands."

Optics around the table widened. Tyger Pax was a small town, with little to offer in the way of tactical advantages except for one, glaring exception.

"Primus," Optimus breathed as he spoke what they were all thinking, "he's going after the AllSpark."


	27. Chapter 27: The Battle of Tyger Pax

Yes! Sweet glory I'm back! XD Yay! I wish I had gotten this up at a more reasonable time, but, well...I take my editing seriously I guess. maybe even a little too seriously...sorry. n_n;

Anyway, ta-da! The next chapter has finally arrived, and it should drag you bodily to the edge of your seats. :)

And thank you THANK YOU all for being so patient with me! I can't tell you how sorry I am that I wasn't able to get this up sooner, and I hope to make it up to you by posting the next chapter in three days, give or take a day depending on my schedule and inclination.

And of course thank you guys for all your reviews and support from the last chapter. You're all beyond wonderful I swear! So thank you Thank you _thank you! _Did I say thank you yet? Because it feels like I haven't said it enough. n_n;

And now by all means please enjoy! ::hearts!::

...

The Long Road Home

27 – The Battle of Tyger Pax – 27

The Autobots mobilized quickly, urgent orders being sent to other bases closer to Tyger Pax faster then Nathanial could comprehend. The first Autobot troops were out of the base before he was even able to get off the reading room table.

Now, after the sudden rush and noise of shouted orders, the Hall of Records seemed unnaturally silent to Nathanial's ears, a silence he had no wish to disturb.

Without a sound, Nathanial finished cinching up Peg's girth before giving the saddle bags the once over with a distant eye.

Peg watched her human worriedly. She knew what had happened, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out why Aria was so mad. Or why her human was _leaving_. He wasn't supposed to leave! Leaving was _stupid!_

Why hadn't her plan worked? Peg wondered that briefly before twisting her long neck around so she could watch her despondent human with both brown eyes. With a deep, horse-y sigh, her anger evaporated. She was too upset to be angry for long.

_"But I don't want to leave!" _Peg told Nathanial for the forty-eighth time since he'd told her they would be going back to Atala through Wheeljack's now-finished ground bridge. _"I like it here."_ She told him as if this was the only reason needed for them to stay. _"I like how tall everything is and the Boss-Mare and the food!" _She listed for him quickly.

But when he didn't even turn to look at her, Peg reached over and gently nudged his arm. _"I like Aria too."_

Nathanial stiffened.

Peg just blinked at him, wondering what that meant since he'd been doing that every time Peg had brought the human woman up. _"I thought you liked Aria too."_

Her human sighed sadly, making Peg's ears twitch uncertainly. He'd been doing a lot of that too.

"I do like her Peg." Nat told her tiredly. "But I messed up. Badly."

The consequences of 'messing up badly' were lost on Peg. _"So?"_ She asked. _"It's not like you haven't done _that _before. You humans do it all the time! Why's now any different?"_

Nathanial didn't have the heart to explain it. He already knew what he'd done. He didn't want to relive it all by explaining it to Peg.

Instead he settled for, "Aria doesn't want me here anymore Peg." But his paltry explanation didn't help Peg any.

_"But it wasn't our fault!" _Peg shouted, whuffling anxiously and pawing at the ground with one black hoof. _"We didn't know what it would do! We didn't even know it was important to them! Why is she mad at us?!"_ She demanded frantically. She didn't want to leave Aria now. Not now that she liked the female organic so much. Usually she couldn't stand other humans apart from Nathanial and (sometimes) his friends – other females in particular annoyed her to pieces! – but she rather liked Aria all on her own. Peg was certain it was because there was a bit of Equine in the other techno-organic too.

Nathanial however, didn't answer Peg. Just went back to making sure she was fit for experimental ground bridge travel.

Not sure how else to reach her human through his cloud of misery, Peg hung her head with a worried snort. She didn't like how things were going.

The large room was quiet for several, long, cycles. Not even Wheeljack's tinkering on at the other end broke the muffled atmosphere.

Then-

"You knew didn't you Peg?" Nathanial quietly asked. Peg swung her head around again, wondering if he just wanted to know the answer, or if he was asking to try and take his mind off of things. "About the bots and, and Aria?"

Not speaking, Peg swung her head up and down, imitating those 'nod' things she had seen humans do when they were talking with each other.

Nathanial sighed. "How could you even tell?" He asked miserably.

Peg blinked large eyes at him and whuffled softly. _"How could you not?"_ She asked him honestly.

Letting go of another gust of depressed air, Nathanial leaned his head on Peg's saddle. Peg made sure to stand still until he was done. Either that or until her legs got tired.

Across the room, a sudden crash-whine made her jump nearly out of her skin, startling Nat as well. Peg looked all around to try and find the source of the terrifying noise, and finally her eyes lit on the swirling green-white light that hadn't been there a moment ago. It looked a lot like one of her transwarp portals she noticed, but it felt different. Almost wrong. Definitely scary.

Nathanial realized what was happening and grabbed Peg's reins to keep her in place until she got used to the noise of the ground bridge. Unlike him, she had never heard the noise before. She watched with mounting anxiety as the green-white light of the tunnel tearing through physical space grew before her eyes at the other end of the room.

With a frightened rumble, Peg back stepped, prancing in place when Nathanial tightened his grip on her bridle.

"It's alright Peg," he told her quickly, some of his usual self coming back into his voice. "It's just the bridge. It's perfectly safe."

She did not believe him, but she trusted him enough to keep his word. Even if the thing wasn't safe, he wouldn't let it swallow her. He'd find a way out.

Peg steadied, but her eyes were still large as they stared anxiously at the unnatural light. Nathanial noticed that the whites of her eyes were showing all around her dark irises too.

Experimentally, Nathanial let go of her reins. Peg stayed in place, but he saw her tail switch nervously back and forth as she watched the bridge.

He patted her neck twice, muttering soothing words to help keep her calm as he went back to his mental checklist. Over Peg's back, Nat caught sight of Wheeljack bent over the ground bridge control board. His back was to them as he fiddled with the settings, making sure that the portal was steady before Nat and Peg went through it.

Nathanial looked back down at the saddle strapped securely to Peg's back. He wasn't sure how much the engineer knew about his part in the dark energon fiasco and, to be honest, he didn't want to know. He'd spent a lot of time with the mech – almost as much as he'd spent with Mirage and Aria – and he was one of the few Cybertronians Nat had thought of as a friend. If Wheeljack didn't already know the awful truth, Nathanial didn't want to be the one to tell him. And if the mech already did know, he didn't want it to be the last thing they remembered talking about.

After he finished checking the controls and settings for the third time, Wheeljack straightened up and turned to look over at the human standing stiffly on the other side of the long room.

"Are you sure about this Nat?" He asked in tight concern. "I haven't had a chance to test it with organic matter yet. If something went wrong it could easily turn you into mush. Or at the very least fling you into a black hole or a star by mistake."

Peg's ears flattened against her head in sudden terror. _"I don't want to go into a black hole!" _She wailed, nearly bucking in her panic. _"I won't go into space Nathanial I won't! I won't!"_ She shrieked.

Nathanial grabbed for her reins but they snapped out of his reach as Peg kicked her front legs off the ground in her panic.

"Peg!" He tried to reach her only to quickly duck out of the way as she half transformed, like she thought she could out fly the perceived danger space offered. "_Peg!_" He tried again. "We're not going into space! We're just going home!"

Peg's only answer was a primal shriek.

_"Won't go!" _Nathanial barely made out through the noise in his head. _"Won't go!"_

Nathanial finally managed to snag Peg's lead and quickly jerked her back down to the ground. She tried to jump back into the air, but he grabbed the halter strap that lay against her flat cheek and kept her in place.

"Peg," Nathanial tried in strained calm, "Look at me Peg."

The distraught creature managed to make herself look at her partner. The whites still showed around her dark eyes, making her look much younger then usual as she shivered in place, little tremors crawling down her legs.

"We're alright Peg," Nathanial said as soon as he had her attention, "we're alright. We're not going to end up out there. We're just going to calmly go through the bright light, just like going through a transwarp portal. You do that all the time and nothing bad ever happens, right?"

Peg stared at her human, still quivering, but her ears eventually twitched in a kind of acknowledgement.

The corner of Nat's mouth twitched up and he reached a hand up to stroke one of her long ears. "Right," he said again, hoping to reassure her more, "and nothing's going to happen this trip either. This portal is just like, like a boost so that we make it back faster." He told her, hoping this way of looking at things would keep Peg calm enough to get them through. Personally, he had enough faith not just in Wheeljack's idea, but in all the time he'd put into working on the ground bridge himself that he believed the untested device would spit them out exactly where it was supposed to.

But try telling that to an Equine when the word 'space' was mentioned. It wasn't just Peg that feared it; every Equine ever born went into bucking fits at the word. That was one of the reasons so much attention went to riders and Equines when they first started learning how to transwarp. Even the riders – with their dulled, human senses – could feel something vast and dark lurking on the outside of the portal. They were told never to touch the walls of the portal to try and keep them from breaking. Nathanial wasn't sure if they were true, but there were stories about riders and mounts that had never come out of a transwarp, like they'd just been swallowed up whole.

Although, given that the rumors about the lens had been true and then some, Nathanial was a little more inclined to give the transwarp stories some benefit of the doubt.

Personally Nathanial thought the fear of space must somehow be bred into them. How else could they _all_ be scared of it? Even astronomers wouldn't say the word 'space' near the stables, afraid of setting the whole herd into a panicked stampede. But then maybe that was why the cavalry didn't have a lot of astronomers _visit_ either...

_"At least I can understand why they don't like going underground." _Nathanial thought as he did what he could to keep Peg quiet. _"If they crave the open air so much then going underground must be torture."_

He'd tried asking Peg about the fear once, but her ears had twitched back and she'd started to shuffle and rumbled nervously in her stall. The only thing he'd gotten out of her was, _"I don't like it. Too empty."_

Across the room, Wheeljack watched the suddenly quiet pair with cautious optics. He'd better not mention the rest of the dangers of untested space bridge travel in public it seemed, not if Nathanial's funny creature would react like _that_ again.

Nat and Peg were still standing silently together, so Wheeljack snuck another glance at them before he went back to fidgeting with the ground bridge controls. He tried to make himself focus on his invention – to make sure that no wrong information had been entered that might harm Nat and Peg instead of help – but his processor just wouldn't _concentrate._

Finally the mech's fidgeting ended in an explosive sigh. "Look," he started rather loudly, half turning towards Nathanial and Peg, "you don't have to do this-"

"It's fine Wheeljack." Nathanial put in blandly, cutting him off. "Either way I'll finally be out of your hair. Don't worry about it."

But Wheeljack did worry about it. He knew why the new human was leaving, but despite what Nathanial thought, that didn't mean he wanted the organic to perish by jumping rashly into some experimental piece of technology. The engineer would be the first to admit that – _sometimes_ – his ideas didn't always translate well into physical form. And sending Nat and his Peg through an untested bridge that would bend space-time _and _reduce them to their basest components before slinging them out into the world again could well be one of the ones that _didn't_ translate right.

Unlike Aria, Wheeljack understood what it was to follow orders. To do something you didn't completely understand because someone else said it was imperative. To act with absolute certainty when you knew next to nothing about what was happening around you. Heck, he'd been doing that ever since the Decepticons had first bombed Iacon, back at the very beginning. He could hardly blame Nat for doing them same, even if it _had _involved dark energon.

Wheeljack vented a sigh as he came to the realization he couldn't let Nat go through the ground bridge. Not now at least. Maybe when it was tested and he knew it was _relatively _safe then it would be alright. But right now it was just too dangerous.

He turned to tell Nat of his decision, but before he could someone else beat him to the punch.

_"NAT!_" Ironhide shouted as he stormed into the long room, Mirage following much more quietly behind him. _"What the heck are you doin' in here?!"_

Already on edge after Peg's outburst, Nathanial nearly shot into the air at the first bombardment of sound. Peg just screamed and transformed quicker than anyone had ever seen, even Nat, before flying up to the safest rafter she could find.

Nat looked up to see her hunkered down between rafter and ceiling and knew it would be hours before he would be able to talk her down. Only he didn't have hours. None of them did. Wheeljack only had another few cycles to spare before he had to leave with the rest of the Autobots for Tyger Pax.

And _now_ all that time finagling the ground bridge had been wasted thanks to Ironhide.

Nat hadn't had much patience to begin with, but now he had none. Less the none. He had _negative _patience for dealing with _any_ of this.

Not even bothering to try and reign in his temper, Nat turned and glared at the black mech. Ironhide didn't let that put him off though and glared right back.

"What the heck was that for?" Nat demanded, throwing an arm out to take in Peg as she tried to phase into the ceiling. "Do you know how long it's going to take me to get her down from there?"

Ironhide's optics narrowed even further. "Let her stay up there! You two shouldn't even be runnin' out on us in the first place!" He hollered.

Despite his melancholy, Nathanial bristled at the mech's words. "Running out?" He hissed angrily. "You think this is how I wanted things to turn out between Aria and me? You know what happened! You heard what she said!"

"Yeah and I heard what you said too!" Ironhide shot back. "Which was_ nuthin'!_" He hissed, taking a step forward to glare at the human better. "What the heck was that about?! I could tell you were just as much in the dark about this slag as we were. Pit, even 'Mia knows that, and she's about as fragged at you as Aria is. So why didn't you say something to her?"

"Because!" Nathanial shouted, and then just as quickly had to stop because he wasn't sure what to say next. He didn't know how to explain it beyond 'Aria's right, I should have said something'. But he'd said that a thousand times already and if Ironhide didn't understand it yet, he doubted saying it again would make him change his mind.

So instead he settled for a harsh, "It's complicated!"

From the way Ironhide's optics widened before narrowing again into dangerous slits, Nathanial figured that had been the wrong thing to say.

"Complicated?" The black armored mech asked in almost quiet disbelief. "I'll give you _complicated_! Complicated's when you actually got someone and you can't even be in the same _state_ because a psychopath is trying to kill 'er sister! An even though you understand that the kid comes first, it's still slaggin' hard to have some kind of decent relationship when you don't e'en know if she's alive! _That's _frackin' _complicated_."

Nathanial couldn't do much but stare for a minute. Out of all the things he had expected the gruff mech to say, _that_ hadn't even made the top fifty.

And given the look on his face, Nat didn't think he was even done yet.

"Look," Ironhide grumbled a cycle later, no longer shouting, "I'm not saying she ain't ticked. But out of all the humans that coulda been dragged into this mess, _you're_ the one that ended up here. And I don't know if that means anything in the long run, but I don't think she would've gotten as close to any other human that just up and appeared like you did. She _likes you _you idiot!"

Nathanial's teeth clenched automatically at the surge of guilt and stupidity. "She _used_ to like me." He said firmly. "And if I were in her place, I wouldn't much care for me now either."

Ironhide growled in the back of his throat. "You two nitwits are just

_throwin' _yer chance away!"

"It's not that easy-" Nathanial tried to say.

"It never is!" Ironhide cut him off. "All I know is yer pullin' that same self-exile sludge she did when the twins died! And if that didn't help her then it sure ain't gonna help you!"

"Well what do you expect me to do?!" Nathanial finally shouted.

Ironhide's optics glowed near-white before settling back into their usual firm blue as he stared at the man in front of him. A low rumble came from somewhere deep in his chest.

"_Fix_. _It_." He told him.

And with that he stalked away, grumbling under his breath about organics that were too bullheaded for their own good.

Nathanial watched him go, not in any better mood. He snorted angrily, throwing one hand up in frustration.

It took him a moment to calm down. It took him another to realize that Mirage was still standing there. Had been ever since Ironhide had come storming in.

"What?" Nathanial growled up at the blue and white mech.

Mirage didn't take the harsh tone personally, which was something given his usual easy-to-offend nature.

"I realize our positions aren't exactly the same," he said in low voice that wasn't exactly calm, "but I _do_ know that if I was given a second chance with Cirri, I would have stayed." He slowly shuttered and reopened his optics. "Even knowing what was going to happen, I would have stayed with her."

Nathanial didn't say anything, not sure if there was a right thing to say to that in the first place. Mirage didn't seem bothered by his silence though, and instead looked up at the ceiling where Peg was still huddled against the rafters.

"Are you going to stay up there for the rest of the orbit?" He asked her in a subdued tone.

Peg's eyes still showed white as she tried to look at everything at once. Her only answer was a terrified whicker.

Mirage vented a peculiar sigh – not that Nat noticed with the thoughts currently warring in his head – and then in a peculiar show of compassion for the techno-organic, stepped closer and held his hands up above his head as if he was going to catch her.

"Well come on," Mirage told Peg, "you can't stay up there forever. And it's rather pointless now that Ironhide's gone and there are no more yelling things in the near vicinity anyway. Now come on. Come come."

One of Peg's wide eyes rolled down toward Mirage. She wanted to tell him that she could handle mere yelling things, but the urge was drowned out by the more desperate one to be near her human. And since her human couldn't sprout wings and fly up to come get her, she'd just have to shake off her shivers and go down to him.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the strength to get rid of her shivers as she stepped off the rafter and glided the short distance to Mirage's hands. She knew he must have seen her legs trembling as she landed, but he didn't say anything. She sighed. For once their stubborn ignoring of the obvious had paid off.

Mirage didn't say anything as he carefully lowered Peg to the ground and waited for her to step off. She did so rather quickly, nearly tripping when she couldn't get to the ground fast enough, but she didn't relax until she was standing next to Nathanial.

Nat was still too deep in thought to say anything, but he did put an arm over Peg's neck as she twitched and quivered at the thought of being lost in something so empty as space...

The three were silent for what felt like a very long time, although in reality it was only about half a cycle.

The half cycle ended when Mirage suddenly cleared his throat, making Nat and Peg look up, although Peg just as quickly looked away again. Yeah, yeah, so the bigfoot had gotten her off the rafter. That didn't mean she had to hang onto every word he said.

Mirage must have been getting used to Peg's fickleness because he didn't get offended so much as he ignored her back.

"I wanted to wish you well," he told Nathanial somewhat stiffly, "whatever it is you decided to do. In case we do not meet again."

There was a split-second of hesitation between one sentence and the next, but it was enough for Nathanial to realize that Mirage wasn't as calm and collected as he appeared. He was nervous about the battle that was about to swarm Tyger Pax.

_"If the AllSpark is as important as they say then I can at least understand that._ _Battles over ancient artifacts that can decide the future of your race tend to make most people nervous." _Nathanial thought wryly to himself.

"Thank you Mirage," Nat said, meaning it, "and if things turn out fine for me, I hope they go better for you. It sounds like you'll need all the help you can get."

Mirage slanted him a look that said, "Gee thanks. Did I tell you how glad I am that you're leaving at this particular moment in time?"

He didn't say anything more about Nat and Peg leaving though, and instead replied with some amount of humor, "Yes well, I'm still not sure if you have it any better." He subtly inclined his head towards the ground bridge.

Nathanial managed to find some small amount of friendly indignation still in him. "Hey, I worked hard on that monstrosity. It'll work."

At any other time Mirage might have grinned, however small, at the joke. "It's not your input that worries me." He pointed out, glancing meaningfully over at the bridge.

Or more specifically, the engineer still bent over its control board.

Nathanial felt a wry smile try and pull at his face as Peg spoke up. _"He said it would work."_ She pointed out loud enough for Mirage to hear her.

"Wheeljack says that about everything he makes."

A nervous rumble crawled out of Peg's narrow chest and she anxiously shifted on her hooves. _"Well this one had _better_ work."_ She grumbled darkly.

Nat just patted her neck again. "It will Peg. Don't worry."

Peg slid him a dark glance. _"Don't worry,"_ she mocked him, still nervously stepping in place, _"don't worry! Whenever you say that I know I _should_ worry!"_

Nat rolled his eyes, about to tell her what he thought of her danger-radar when Mirage suddenly cocked his head, as if listening to something. Only Nat didn't hear anything other than a faint buzz on the lower edge of his hearing.

He looked over at Peg for some kind of translation.

_"Internal comm. system." _She whickered without having to be asked.

By then Mirage was nodding at whoever was on the other end of the channel. Nathanial wasn't sure if he answered back because he didn't say anything out loud, however a moment later the blue and white mech was climbing back to his feet.

He didn't say the obvious, "I have to go," when he looked down at Nathanial, just simply nodded his head at him by way of goodbye.

Nathanial returned the gesture, and then stood with Peg as Mirage turned and disappeared out the door, off to Tyger Pax.

The door closed with the same, muted shuff as always, not caring where the beings that went through it went or if they would ever come back again. Nathanial ran a hand through his hair, making the front of it stick up in odd directions. If leaving was such the right thing to do then why did it feel like he was losing something irreplaceable?

He let go of a deep, rattled sigh. "What do you think Peg?" Nat asked her softly as he reached out and put a hand on her nose. "Should we stay? Or should we leave before we cause anymore irreparable damage?"

Peg blinked at him, some of the terror leaving her round eyes as she remembered that this was her human and, despite his flaws, he would look after her. He would keep her safe.

She nudged his hand with her nose.

_"I follow you." _She told him. _"I always will."_

And that was the only answer she would give him on the matter.

Across the room, Wheeljack had watched the different encounters between man and machines (and part-machines) in silence. But with the other two mechs gone and Nathanial sinking back into his thoughtful gloom, he figured that now was as good a time as any to speak up.

"Well Nat," the engineer asked from the ground bridge control board, "what are you gonna do?"

Nathanial's mind churned with the difficult decision and in the end he didn't answer for a long, long time.

...

"Ariah I don't think this is a good idea."

Aria ignored Optimus' uncertainty and went on checking her weaponry, however small it was compared to the bots that were undoubtedly trying to swarm Tyger Pax at that moment.

"It doesn't matter if it's a good idea or not," she finally answered the mech leaning down towards her in an effort to keep this conversation between them, "the Decepticons aren't going to hold anything back now. Surprise will only help them once and even that's ruined already. They've only got one shot at taking the AllSpark now. You're going to need every advantage you've got and I can help." She told him in a perfectly reasonable tone.

Optimus wasn't reassured. Her voice was too flat to be reassuring. Nathanial's admission had rocked her more then she was willing to admit out loud, although everyone else could see it. Or at least, they would have if this sudden grab for the AllSpark hadn't stolen their attention.

"You've just been hurt by someone you care about," he tried again, "you're not thinking clearly-"

But Aria wasn't having it. "A human made this mess!" She suddenly snapped, fingers spread out as if she was trying to keep from pulling at her hair, "so a human should fix it! And I'm not-" she swallowed hard to keep the fear out of her voice although Optimus heard it anyway, "I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing while Megatron tries to take the only thing that can save you guys!"

Optimus didn't say anything for a cycle, just took in Aria's dejected posture and the way her eyes swung between hurt and enraged.

"Ariah," Optimus finally said sadly, wishing he could comfort her now and knowing that they didn't have the time, "this isn't your fault. You couldn't have known."

Aria glared down at the floor. "No," she said in a low voice, "but I should have." She told him.

Optimus' comm. pinged before he could think of some way to convince Aria that she couldn't have stopped this from happening.

::Prime, the first field reports are coming in now.:: Prowl's voice came over the channel. Optimus noted with some anxiety that not even he sounded like his usual reserved self. ::Decepticons have made it past the first troops stationed at the city' bridges, but only a few have breached the city itself. At this rate though it won't take them long to reach the AllSpark's location at the city's center.:: He reported. ::Silverbolt and the Aerialbots have left the Manganese Mountains and will arrive in three point four breems.::

Optimus frowned as he took in the news. The Aerialbots would beat them there then. ::Understood.:: He sent back. ::Tell the bots still in Iacon we're rolling out in five cycles.::

He didn't need to see Prowl to know he had nodded at that. ::Yes Prime:: He affirmed and then closed the channel.

Optimus turned his attention back to the problem at hand. Aria, now stubbornly ignoring him, was looking over her rope and grapple again, her hands becoming steadier as her body realized she still knew how to do this.

_"No more time to argue,"_ Prime thought to himself as he took in the determination on Aria's face. He'd forgotten about that look.

"Are you sure Ariah?" He asked one more time, although he couldn't tell if it was to give her one more opportunity to stay or to try and reassure himself that she did in fact know what she was getting herself into.

Aria's gaze was steady and firm when she looked up at him. She gave a tight nod. "I got used to staying behind because the younglings needed me or because I was afraid." She told him. "But Bee and the others haven't been younglings for a long time, and right now I don't have the luxury of being afraid. Besides," she added in a lower voice, "I'm too furious to be afraid anyway."

Optimus briefly thought about ordering Aria to stay, but then shook his head. It would be a pointless order. At this rate she'd either find someone else to take her or just follow on foot. She'd never make it in time that way, but he knew that wouldn't stop her from trying. That and she was right. There was too much at stake for them to be picky about who should come and who should stay behind. And if Aria's presence could somehow turn the tide against the Decepticons, well then she needed to be there.

Optimus didn't say anything to Aria as he transformed down into his alt-mode. Aria watching wordlessly from the side. She didn't look all that surprised when he popped open the door closest to the organic femme.

"Get in." He told her in a low voice.

Without hesitation, Aria did.

...

_"Stay here and guard the perimeter."_

The orders echoed through Aria's head again as she lay still as stone in her hidey hole. She was laying flat on her stomach in the second floor of hollowed out building near the city's edge. Whatever attack that had destroyed the higher floors of the building had blown out all the windows on the first two as well, keeping Aria connected to the outside without having to put herself out in the open.

She had hunkered down in the building's west corner, specially made rifle settled against her shoulder. From here she could see about a quarter stretch of the cliff that marked the edge of Tyger Pax.

So far no 'cons had tried to come this way. They had all made their way deeper into the city once Hound and his team had shown up. Optimus had said he expected the 'cons to try and contact reinforcements somehow, and with Blaster jamming every Decepticon channel he could find that left a runner as the most reliable way to get word out of the city.

Aria though wasn't so sure they would even try it. To her right she could hear the sound of battle raging – the war cries of mechs as they surged against each other in battering waves, of missiles falling like screaming rain before they found their targets, the faint pops and booms of farther off explosions as they echoed over the sound of wounded, all with the faint rumbling of earth moving as the battle sheared off pieces of cliff side.

She tried to block out the knowledge of what was happening not a mile away from her, but it was impossible. The most she could do was distract herself with the task in front of her, although with the empty landscape, it was difficult.

_"This is pointless," _Aria thought as she frowned stubbornly out at the stretch of empty cliff, _"they're not going to come back this way unless they retreat." _A snort told just how likely she thought that was. _"Megatron must've called up all of Kaon for this push. There probably isn't anyone left to call!"_

Despite her misgivings though, she kept her eyes trained on the landscape. The potential consequences were too great to risk being wrong.

Aria's loyalty paid off, because not five cycles later, she found out that she was.

The small sound of movement was her first clue that something had changed. Aria lifted her head a little higher to get a better view, but she didn't see anything. She was just beginning to think that another building was just crumbling to rubble when she heard something else, something that didn't belong to the broken buildings clustered in front of her.

The hum of an engine buzzed in Aria's ears, low enough that it almost didn't register. She frowned, forehead creasing as she carefully searched the shadows for whatever mech was out there. Whoever it was was trying to run silent and not quiet succeeding.

Aria rested her finger on the trigger of her rifle. Lots of bots didn't know how to run silent properly – Prowl, Mirage, and Hound were the only three Aria knew of that could do it without trouble – but ever since the war had started, more had been trying.

At first she thought that maybe Hound had come back for her for some reason, but that didn't make sense so she dismissed the idea just as quickly. There were lots of ways Hound could use to signal her and she hadn't detected any. That and a former military caste bot like him didn't need to _try _and run silent. So no, this wasn't Hound.

Anxiety mounting, Aria stayed very still and waited for whoever it was to show themselves. But the longer she waited, the more her mind began to doubt she'd heard anything at all. It was such a low sound after all. Maybe she was imagining it. Maybe it was the thrum of a weapon being used off in the distance. Maybe-

"Alright, it's all clear. Come on!"

Aria blinked wide eyes. Well she certainly hadn't imagined _that_.

Two mechs suddenly stepped out from between the ruined buildings, keeping their heads low and their optics peeled for any sign of ambush. Both had the violet face of the Fallen painted on their shoulders and the traditional red optics of the Decepticons.

Aria breathed a quiet breath of relief. _"Thank goodness for that." _She thought, legs going tingly as she realized just how relieved she was that she wouldn't have to take on a couple of dark Decepticons all by herself.

_"I guess they don't want to waste their big guys on errands."_ She thought as she tightened her finger on the trigger and settled her right eye against the weapon's scope.

The two 'cons were immediately shown in greater detail through the scope's powerful lens. They were both broad and bulky, but one was holding his arm as sparks occasionally shot out of his left shoulder. Someone had broken the main power conduit that ran through there Aria saw, and energon was leaking from it in a small but steady flow.

"Of all the rotten luck!" The undamaged 'con was saying in frustration as the two made their way to one of the bridges that spanned the empty canyon ringing Tyger Pax. "We finally get to take the Autobots head on and my partner has to go and get himself a broken arm! And now we're nuthin' but errand mechs! Thanks genius! Thanks a freakin' lot!"

His partner drew back a little from the shouting mech, probably worried he'd just finish the job the Autobots had started so he could get back into the middle of the battle. "Would you just quit yer complaining and move already? The faster we go get reinforcements for Megatron, the faster _you_ can get back out there and _I _can get a new partner. One that doesn't whine as much as you do." He shot back, although Aria noticed a strain in his voice that told her he was hurt worse than he was willing to let on.

The uninjured mech just flapped an arm at his partner and made a rude noise in the back of his vocal processor. The two of them were almost at that awkward halfway point where they wouldn't be able to reach cover quick enough to escape Aria's bullets, no matter how fast they ran. Aria steadied herself, preparing to take the shot. If she took out the uninjured mech with her first shot, then the wounded one shouldn't be able to avoid her quick enough.

Grim and decided, she leveled her aim at the leading Decepticon.

The uninjured Decepticon suddenly raised his arm, signaling his wounded partner to stop. Aria felt her spine stiffen, suddenly afraid she'd been spotted, but then she realized they were looking in the other direction.

_"They're just checking out the open space, making sure no one's waiting for them to crawl out into the open."_

Of course _she_ had been waiting for them, but that was one of the reasons she'd set up here instead of the more obvious space the Decepticons were now scoping out.

_"Change that,"_ Aria thought as she slowly adjusted her aim towards the lead 'con, _"_he's_ the only one checking out his surroundings. The other guy might as well be in la-la land."_

The smarter 'con was almost done with his check. _"Now or never," _Aria thought with a shaky breath as she steadied her crosshairs on the stronger 'con, _"one, two, three-"_

She went to pull the trigger, but something went wrong. For some reason Aria didn't have time to figure out, the stronger 'con suddenly turned around-

-and immediately spied Aria hunkered down in the blown out window.

"Oh slag-" Aria swore, automatically taking the shot.

It went wide, but that didn't stop the lead 'con from shoving his partner away. "Down!" He roared, throwing himself in the other direction as Aria's bullet pierced the wall that had been between the two of them.

The lead Decepticon opened fire before he even hit the ground and Aria rolled as soon as she saw his arm start to morph. She felt the shadow from a chunk of rubble fall across her as she rolled behind it and she threw her arms over her head in case more decided to join it on the floor.

She held her breath as a slurry of plasma fire slammed into the side of the building, making it shake to its foundation, or what was left of them anyway. That part of Aria that was sure that the building was about to drop down on top of her started screaming her head off, but only a short shriek actually managed to wrangle its way out her mouth. She expected the firing to stop after the initial volley, but the Decepticon didn't let up. Aria thought he must be determined to waste his ammo, but then dust began to shake down off of the partial roof.

She looked past her forearms, squinting to try and keep the dust out of her eyes, but forgot about the stupid dust a moment later when her eyes went wide with fear. Above her, the hairline fractures in the metal ceiling's remains had started to broaden into dangerous, unstable fissures.

That slagger was trying to shake the roof down on top of her! Aria realized. He was going to crush her under this derelict of a building!

With another muffled swear, Aria rolled sharply left onto her stomach, trying to push herself up so she could get to the stairs before the squishing started.

She might as well have tried to jump to Moon Base One. Already shards of ceiling were starting to drop. Aria darted sideways to avoid one, realizing that an avalanche wouldn't be far behind.

_"Got to get out!"_ Her mind screamed frantically as she looked around at the shaking building. _"Got to get out! __**Got to get out!**__"_

Her inner voice had risen to a terrified shriek set on a loop. _"But how?!" _She screamed back at herself.

The answer was actually painfully obvious, although maybe not as painful as what would happen if Aria stayed here for much longer.

She scrambled on top of what had been a piece of furniture in another life, but it still wasn't high enough to clear what remained of the wall.

_"Well the house is already coming down," _Aria thought dryly as she flipped her rifle around, _"might as well add to the destruction at this point."_

She brought the butt of the rifle down hard on the wall blocking her path. Already crumbling, it didn't take more than two good slams to send the blockade falling towards the ground.

Aria dropped the long range rifle; it was useless at this point. Trying not to lose her balance as larger pieces of ceiling started to fall behind her, Aria grabbed her rope and grapple, yanking it from her belt. With the building's shaking growing more and more unsteady, she gave up on aiming and just fired the thing at the first available perch she saw. She barely saw the hook go sailing through the air as a wave of dust suddenly dumped itself on her head.

_"I don't want to know," _Aria told herself, _"don't look up because I don't. Want. To know!"_

Of course she looked up anyway. She distantly felt her mouth drop open as the cracks in the ceiling directly above her suddenly connected. Something about as big as her grandmother's dining room table – the fancy, heavy, ornate one she used for holidays dinners, not the everyday breakfast, lunch, and dinner one – started to fall towards her unprotected head.

Aria flinched instinctively, not even trying to keep the scream of fear inside this time. Out of all the ways to go, she thought, this was _not_ one she would have picked!

But then her arms were just about yanked out of their sockets as she was pulled straight out into open air. For one scary, wonderful minute, Aria felt like she was flying.

And then that moment ended with her shoulder smashing into the wall her grapple had latched onto.

She let go automatically as the entire right half of her body suddenly felt like Ratchet had decided to give her a lifetime of shots all at once. There was another brief moment of falling – not _nearly _as nice as the flying a cycle ago – and then the next thing Aria knew, she was falling flat on her face on a hard metal road.

For a moment she lay there, unable to think properly. Everything hurt. Somewhere, _way _in the back of her mind, she thought this might be what it felt like to be put through a taffy pull.

Eventually she groaned. "Worst belly flop _ever_." She moaned as she somehow found it in her to push herself off the ground.

The sharp sound of a second generation Gear Shredder being reloaded reminded her that she wasn't alone.

Distantly Aria thought it was really sad that she knew all that just from the sound.

Every muscle in Aria's body froze at the small sound and her eyes went wide where they were focused on the ground underneath her. But when no spinning blades of death appeared to cut her into mincemeat, she slowly looked up.

The uninjured mech was staring down at her, optics showing something between the usual Decepticon anger and just your average confusion.

He cocked his head at her, optics narrowing in thought. "What the...?" He mumbled more to himself than her.

Not quite daring to get up off her hands and knees, Aria remained very still. She briefly wondered where the other mech was, but then she saw the still outline of a metal body out the corner of her right eye. A tall spike, now dripping energon, stood roughly where the mech's chest would be.

Aria swallowed down her nausea, suddenly glad she couldn't get a good view of the body. And somewhere deep down in her, in that place people try not to look at too often, she was relieved that she hadn't been the one that had ended the mech.

She was distracted from feeling rather sick – either from the dead frame not ten feet from her or from the hard knocks her head had gotten from her escape from the crumbling building didn't really matter Aria felt – when the mech above her suddenly gave a sound of realization.

"You," the Decepticon growled in sudden knowing, pointing one clawed digit at her, "I've heard of you. You're that Autobot organic that managed to get one up on Shockwave a few orns ago." He smirked at that, but Aria wasn't sure if he was laughing at Shockwave or laughing at her. Either way, she took the opportunity to slowly get to her feet. She didn't like staying in vulnerable positions in front of creepy Decepticons. Besides, her knees were starting to hurt.

The Decepticon didn't try and stop her, probably because she was squishy and didn't even come up to his knee. Instead he just threw back his blocky head and laughed.

"I guess the Autobots're even more desperate then I thought if they let their little pet off its _leash_." He roared another laugh.

Aria glared at him as the blocky 'con went on laughing loud enough to shake the remaining glass out of the window next to her. "I'm the baby-sitter you aft."

The 'con just cocked his head at her, obviously wondering what a baby was and why she had to sit on it. Before he could ask though, Aria snapped her arm out and grabbed the trailing end of her rope. A quick flick up the line dislodged the heavy grapple from the wall and another sent if falling artfully towards the Decepticon's head.

He ducked before it could connect with a muffled swear.

The 'con looked over at Aria with a smirk. "Ha!" He crowed. "You missed Fluffy!"

Aria glared at him harder, but didn't feel too put out. If only because the idiot hadn't shot her when he'd had the chance. Obviously he didn't think she was capable of all that much.

_"Worse than Sunstreaker."_ Aria thought as she adjusted her hold on her rope and cylinder. All she said out loud, though, was, "That's Miss Fluffy to you loser."

Then she snapped the rope up again, the push of a button activating the new electro-magnet Wheeljack had installed for her. Three feet off the ground the magnet in the grapple registered the mech's presence. It shot up and attached itself to the center of the mech's chest, above his spark. He yelped in surprise and pain as the open prongs of the grapple dug into his weakened chest armor.

"Holy frack!" He shouted, immediately pulling back to try and dislodge the teeth, but they didn't give.

Aria just twisted the rope along her hands and allowed herself one small grim smile.

She pulled on the rope experimentally. The mech must have taken a straight on blow earlier because his entire chest armor seemed to jump slightly, even if it didn't break off altogether.

He must have realized just how loose his armor joints were because the mech suddenly threw himself backward and transformed before the grapple's teeth could pry off any of his armor.

Aria shrieked as she was suddenly dragged forward, her shoes sliding right across the slick road as the Decepticon sped away.

Or tried to at least. There wasn't much to speed off _to_. Debris was scattered everywhere and the road was slippery with spilled energon and lubricants. Of course with so many obstacles it didn't take long for the mech to realize that smashing his organic tail against one of them would work just as well as shooting her would have.

Aria shouted again as the 'con swerved, sending her right towards a broken light fixture that had fallen across the road. It was too high to jump and going under wasn't possible if she wanted to keep her grapple. And since it was the only weapon she had left she wanted to keep it very much.

She jerked the cylinder back towards her shoulder, activating the mechanism that retracted the rope back into its silver housing. Aria screamed a little as she was suddenly yanked sideways fast enough to run into the Decepticon's rear bumper with a breath-losing _oof!_

The 'con snarled. "Get the frack off Squishy!" He hollered at her, swerving left and right to try and dislodge her.

Aria tried to cling to the 'con with nothing but her fingernails as he slung her left and then right, but that didn't last too long.

"This is why you shouldn't bite your nails!" She screamed at herself as a sudden jolt made her push the button that sent the rope back out of the cylinder.

She jerked to a stop behind the mech when she reached the end of her rope, but managed to keep her grip on her weapon. Wind blasted her full in the face, sending her hair flying out behind her as the Decepticon roared through the busted streets of Tyger Pax, Aria skidding dangerously out behind him, like some kind of water-ski joy rider.

Not sure what to do anymore, Aria just hung on as best she could. With her grapple now stuck _inside _the blasted Decepticon, it was either that, let go and lose her only means left of defense, or die outright.

And the last two were practically synonymous.

Aria jumped over a piece of rubble like a hurdle as the mech dodged right in another attempt to lose her. She sailed through the air for a brief, heart-stopping moment before somehow managing to land on her feet on the slick ground.

"You know what Squishy?!" The Decepticon shouted up ahead as he went even faster. "Frag you!"

And then with a foreboding cackle, the mech sped up, engine snarling even over the wind screaming in Aria's ears. She only now realized that they had left the building outskirts and were driving along the edge of the canyon that surrounded Tyger Pax.

And one of those dang, broken light fixtures, thick as a tree trunk, was now blocking her way.

Aria's heart jumped into her throat as she realized what the 'con's cackle meant. She screamed without realizing it and tried in vain to change her course.

The 'con swerved sharply again, veering away from the canyon and the pole, cackling gleefully.

But Aria's momentum was too great now and she kept speeding forward. The rope stopped short as the pole cut across its path and the force was enough to rip the cylinder from Aria's hands.

With nothing left to hold onto, Aria flew forward-

-and into the canyon's open air with a scream.

...

Wheeljack ducked his head as the sound of another explosion blasted through his audios. He skimmed the area again, but no new Decepticons had presented themselves, so he quickly returned his attention to the repairs in front of him.

It was that blasted converter he'd used to connect the containment field generator with the firing system! The slaggin' thing kept melting into the casing that housed the power supply, making his newest weapon prone to explosion if left untreated.

Wheeljack would have shaken his head if he hadn't been so busying getting shot at. _"The guys'll never let me hear the end of this one." _He thought as he finally managed to pop open the hardened ooze of plastic that covered the barrel of his newest invention.

It wasn't exactly a flaw in the design, he thought, although it could stand some straightening out. The converters kept melting because the guns kept overheating. And the guns kept overheating because they were being overused. The engineer had underestimated just how many darkened Decepticons there would be on the field. Obviously Megatron had supplied more of his troops with dark energon.

Wheeljack inwardly cussed the Decepticon commander out in his head as his fingers finagled wiring back into its proper place. Although to be fair, he supposed, even overheated and half melted, his containment field guns still made excellent bombs when thrown at incoming Decepticons moments before they erupted into fiery explosions.

A few feet away the young Autobot whose containment field gun was just an iron filing away from being a piece of melted slag nervously looked at Wheeljack over his shoulder. "You almost done there Jackie?" He asked, anxiety showing clear through his voice. Most of the Autobots were afraid now, Wheeljack knew, even the older ones, although they hid it better. Megatron had created an awful lot of panic by going after the AllSpark. It was the only thing keeping Cybertron alive at this point, and their planet was still in some sorry shape. Without the AllSpark and the energon it created in the planet, living on Cybertron would be nothing but a death sentence.

Wheeljack's optics hardened as he quickly hotwired his own machine. That wouldn't happen. Optimus Prime would stop Megatron before he got to the AllSpark. Cybertron would not be doomed to the slow death of starvation. The Autobots would make it through.

Wheeljack believed that to his core.

Without a doubt in his spark, the inventor finished ripping out the fried converter and began twisting stripped wires together to make a new one. "Almost done," he answered the other bot, "and don't call me Jackie." He snapped. Jack was fine. Wheeljack even better. But Wheeljack didn't like being called 'Jackie'. It sounded like a femme's name.

The young bot just slanted a grin at Wheeljack. "Whatever you say Jackie."

Wheeljack snorted in irritation, but didn't look up from his work. Whatever taunt the younger bot was about to say was also cut off by renewed Decepticon fire.

"You might want to hurry it up their Jackie!" The green mech hollered above the high pitched squeal of laser fire. "There's a whole lot of violet optics coming our way!"

"Mute it!" Wheeljack snapped back, but hurried his work anyway. "Like Springer's such a masculine name to start with!" He yelled as the bubble gun's excess power suddenly shot down the new connections, giving him a smart shock along the way.

Wheeljack just shook out his hand and used the still soft plastic casing to cover the new sparking connections.

Behind him, Springer snorted at the barb. "It is too you smartaft. You spring traps. Wild animals spring on prey. Springer is ten times more manly then Wheeljack." He snarked, but didn't stop firing at the advancing 'cons from where he stood behind a broken wall.

Wheeljack just grinned crookedly. The battle must be getting to him he thought. He had never really bought into battlefield banter before. But then again Springer _had_ started it...

"Whatever you say Kitty." Wheeljack told him, but then left off as he reloaded the fixed weapon with a sharp snap. "It's done."

"Good." Springer said, aiming a handful of shots at the dark 'con closest to their position. The laser fire might have well been pillows for all the good it did them though. "Because I think the dark 'cons are starting to laugh at us."

Wheeljack steadied the gun against his shoulder as he came to stand by the younger Autobot. "Well we can't have that now can we?"

And with that he fired.

The same rocking _screeee-boom!_ the prototype containment gun had made in his lab nearly deafened Wheeljack's right audio, but it was almost worth it as the bullet of suppressed energy pierced the dark Decepticons armor with practically no resistance.

But for some reason the Decepticon didn't stop. He just kept coming for them, a lopsided smirk smeared across his faceplates.

"Yep," Springer spat as he opened fire again, concentrating his shots around the hole Wheeljack had just left in the enemy's armor, "he's definitely laughing at us."

Wheeljack swore. "It should have worked!" He hissed, resisting the urge to just throw his useless invention at the Decepticons.

"Well they can't all explode at the wrong time now can they Jackie?" Springer asked as he reloaded.

Frustrated and now exactly aware of just how close the dark Decepticons were getting, Wheeljack rounded on the younger Autobot. "Call me Jackie _one_ more time and I'll-"

A sudden _Pop! Hissssss..._ cut him off. Confused, the two mechs turned back towards the 'cons. They had stopped advancing all of sudden. And it wasn't hard to see why.

The leading violet-optic 'con had sunk to his knees and energon was leaking from his slack jaw. His optics flickered as the violet suddenly seeped out of them, as if the violet color had been some sort of fluid and someone was draining it. He stared listlessly out in front of him as if all his processing power had just been severed.

"Dear Primus," Springer muttered in shock and awe, "the dang thing actually _worked_."

Wheeljack was too happy to worry over the total surprise in Springer's words. "Yes!" He whooped. "I knew you wouldn't fail me!" He said to the gun in a moment of pure insanity.

Springer shot him a look out of the corner of his optics. "Can I just say that I am no longer surprised that you and the Hatchet are best buds?"

Wheeljack ignored him as he leveled the containment gun at the remaining dark 'cons. He hit the second before he could even begin to process what was going on, but the third one started to run before Wheeljack could get a good shot. He took the shot anyway, but the compressed energy just clipped the mech's shoulder.

Springer whistled through his teeth, but couldn't quite keep the grin off his face. "Nice job Wheeljack. Sign me up for your next crazy invention." He told him, clapping the engineer on the shoulder.

"Done." Wheeljack tried to say.

Only before he could, a shot rent the air and Springer was suddenly knocked to the ground, optics going wide. In slow motion, Wheeljack watched the younger mech fall, legs going slack as energon flow was disrupted.

"Springer!" Wheeljack shouted, crouching down next to younger mech. The new hole in the bot's shoulder began to leak energon, the green color blending in with his green paint.

Wheeljack applied pressure to the wound, but it was deep and energon stubbornly leaked around his palms. Old lessons from when he'd still been a part of the medical caste came to the forefront of his processor. The bullet had missed Springer's spark, so that was good. What was not so good was that it had nicked a fuel line somewhere. They needed to get the bullet out and the fuel line stitched up quickly or Springer would bleed out.

Wheeljack threw a glance at his tools, but nothing there was fit for medical care on sentient bots. He opened a comm. channel to any medical teams in the area.

::Mech down. Immediate medical evacuation requested. Send assistance to following coordinates-:: he listed his and Springer's present location. Springer for his part, tried to pull in air through his cooling systems, only without proper energon circulation he was having difficulty.

Wheeljack tried to ignore the rasp of gears grinding together and fans stalling. ::Mech down!:: He sent again on a farther reaching frequency. ::Immediate medical evac needed!::

Springer suddenly tried to move, only his arm wouldn't quite obey him. "Be-" he ground out the words, "be-hind ya-you-" he wheezed out with a pained shudder.

But static in his vocorder was making the words nearly indecipherable to Wheeljack's audios. It probably didn't help that he was still half deaf from his containment weapon.

"What?" He asked, only half paying attention, the majority of his focus still on Springer's seeping wound.

But before Springer could try to talk again, a flash of pain rocketed through Wheeljack's skull as someone slammed the butt of a gun into the back of his head.

Without a sound, Wheeljack slumped forward, out cold, oblivious to the shadow now looming over him and Springer.


	28. Chapter 28: The Battle of Tyger Pax Pt 2

n_n; I'm late again. Sorry. I didn't mean to, but well, things got out of hand I suppose you could say. ):

Anyway, as promised, the next chapter. I hope it meets all your expectations, and I'm sorry to say (wait a minute...no I'm not! xP) that the cliffies aren't done with you yet, so don't explode or anything!

Thank you of course to my reviewers Mercedes Wolfcry (yes me and my cliffies. I'd apologize, but for some reason I get a perverse kind of joy out of them as a writer. x3 but I'm still amazingly glad to hear from you!) Mini-Grimmy (Rawr!) RandomCitizen (You're review made me laugh so hard that I put it on my blog! XD Seriously, I loved it!) and Guest (In this you can relax. Wheeljack is my very very **_very_**favorite Autobot. I could never kill him! Never ever! Although he may want to be careful when I hug him next...I just may break something with my insane fangirl love... ^,,^). It's always a spot of light when I see those review alerts in my inbox. :D

And as for the rest of you...

^-.-^ Four reviews is probably the lowest review count I've ever gotten on this story and to be honest I'm a bit miffed and plenty sad. I know I've been a horrible authoress recently, but is that really an excuse to hold out on reviewing? I know you guys can do better because I've _seen _it...

Alright, alright, I'll stop being nitpicky now. But _please_ don't hold on me this time? Reviews are love! And not just because most of the time they say "hey! I like this!" Knowing that you guys take the time to tell me what you like (and what you don't like too) is like an instant glee magnet. _Knowing what readers think of their stories makes authors spontaneously combust with joy._

So...yeah...for some reason I felt the need to say that...and now I have the undeniable urge to go hide in a corner for being bossy...

...I hope you like the chapter.

...

The Long Road Home

28 – The Battle of Tyger Pax (Part 2) – 28

It felt like the bullet was trying to crawl deeper into his shoulder, Springer thought dimly as the Decepticon that had shot him stood over Wheeljack's unconscious frame. And as difficult as it was just fighting to stay online, fighting the fragger was out of the question.

Not that that was going to stop a Wrecker like Springer.

The mech with red optics took a step forward but paused when he saw Springer point his weapon at him. He couldn't even raise his arm, but that wasn't stopping him from leveling the muzzle of his service weapon at the closest target available; the other mech's knee.

"Ta-_zzzzt_-ke one more-_shzt_-step an' you'll be-_kzt_-_hopping_ off this battlefield."

It wasn't exactly the apex of threats, but Springer was past caring. Wheeljack had gotten off his call for a medevac, so all he had to do was wait for them the show up. The odds might look good now against two wounded Autobots, but the green mech doubted the 'con would think the same thing when the medibot and his armed escort showed up. Especially if it happened to be Ratchet.

But the Decepticon didn't even twitch at the threat. He just raised an optic ridge at the downed mech, which confused Springer a little. In his experience, it wasn't like a Decepticon to be calm.

But this one was. He looked down at the two wounded Autobots almost thoughtfully, quite cool and collected even though he was currently surrounded by what was probably going to be one of the most important battles in the Autobot-Decepticon war.

And then the Decepticon smirked down at him, making Springer grimace. He had a good feeling what was coming, and he tried to shoot the blasted 'con before he could get closer, only his finger slipped on the trigger. No doubt from energon loss.

The Decepticon knocked the gun away and rabbit punched Springer in a quick one-two movement that made the Autobot's head snap back hard enough to make something crack unpleasantly in the back of his head.

Flashes of light spun in front of his optics as if he was being mobbed by flash photographers, but Springer was too preoccupied by a boot heel slamming down onto his injured shoulder. Armor dented as already damaged internal wiring ripped and tore. The pain was enough to make him feel sick, and he just barely heard himself shout as the Decepticon ground his heel against his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be making threats in your condition Autobot," the Decepticon said and Springer dimly registered the snap-click of an blaster being cocked, "I mean really. You should probably see a medibot. You're looking a little green around the edges." He grinned wickedly at his own joke.

Springer didn't retaliate, just focused on trying to see past the stars in his optics. Maybe if he could reach his pistol he could blast that crooked smirk right off the Decepticons face...

But the 'con must have read his mind somehow, because he kicked away Springer's gun with his foot – you know, the one that _wasn't_ currently rearranging the green bot's insides – before opening a comm. channel.

"Skywarp!" He snapped into the open line. Enough of the flashes had cleared from Springer's vision that he could now clearly make out the smug look on the Decepticon's face.

_"Almost wish I still couldn't see."_ He thought grimly to himself as he did his best to wriggle out from under the Decepticon's foot.

"Deadlock?!" Springer barely made out the Seeker's voice across the channel. " What the Pit do you want?! I'm busy!" Skywarp screeched. The sound of fire and cussing echoed across the channel as one of the Aerialbots got too close for the Decepticon Seeker's comfort.

The Decepticon standing on Springer – Deadlock apparently – glanced down at the unconscious form of Wheeljack. "I got a present for Megatron and I just figured that you might want to earn some bonus points with the boss. But if you want Starscream to get all the credit for what you and Thundercracker do, well I'll just find someone else to help me haul him in."

He trailed off like a salesbot making a pitch. There was a long moment where nothing came over the line but the sound of Seeker engines and missile fire. And then-

"Who is it?"

Deadlock grinned again, ignoring Springer as he toed Wheeljack's arm to make sure the bot was still unconscious. "It's that crazy Autobot inventor. Wonder what kind of intel he's got crammed into his processor."

Skywarp laughed downright manically on the other end of the line. "Alright, what the heck. These Aerial-losers are getting boring anyway."

Springer was too busy inching his hand under his back to pay attention to the sound of a Seeker spiraling down at first. But when a mech shouted after a sudden blast of laser fire, he managed to split his attention.

There was the sound of an engine beginning to fail and a distant cry of, _"Fireflight!"_ before the only thing Springer could hear was more of Skywarp's maniacal giggling and the pop of space being displaced by his infamous transwarp drive.

The pop was echoed somewhere above him and to the right before it was drowned out by the scream of the Seeker's engine roaring overhead. A nano-klik later, the purple and black form of the jet himself appeared, flying a few miles over the city buildings before twisting around to make his approach to Deadlock's coordinates.

Springer knew he didn't have a lot of time before his enemy doubled. He felt like he was about to dislocate his only good shoulder, but he kept reaching for field knife he kept against his back, transformed into his frame so that no captors could easily find it.

He had just found the hilt when Deadlock noticed what he was doing.

The Decepticon's fist connected with the side of Springer's head hard enough that it would have sent him rolling a foot or two if Deadlock's heel hadn't been holding him in place.

"I forgot just how stubborn you Wreckers could be." Deadlock stated coolly as he shook out his fist and readjusted his grip on the gun still pointed at Springer's weakened chest armor. "You are one of those Wreckers aren't you? Cuz I could swear I've seen you before somewhere. That skirmish over near the Sea of Rust, maybe? That'd be the last time I was out on the field you know. A Wrecker by the name of Righthook nearly took my head off there. Know him?"

Springer looked up at the Decepticon staring down at him. Righthook was Ultra Magnus' lieutenant, the Wrecker's second-in-command. Everybody knew him.

"Nope," Springer said, just to nettle the other mech really, "can't say that I do. Are you sure it wasn't just another 'con that tried to off you? You don't strike me as the well-liked type."

He got another blow to the face for that, but Springer ended up barking a short laugh anyway. He'd gotten under the 'con's armor it seemed. That was always good for a laugh.

The sound of transforming parts and the earth-shaking boom of boots hitting the ground appeared to the mechs' right. Deadlock turned as Skywarp began to walk towards them, but Springer's attention had been caught by something else entirely; a speck floating high above them.

Skywarp sniffed haughtily when he saw the unconscious frame of the Autobot inventor.

"So this is him huh?" He asked as he roughly rolled Wheeljack over with a foot. "I thought he'd be taller."

Then he hauled back and kicked Wheeljack hard in the side, making him roll three or four times before coming to stop against the large rock he'd used earlier as a repair table for Springer's containment gun. The Wrecker had a feeling the Seeker had kicked him just because he could.

Skywarp went back to ignoring the unconscious Autobot in favor of the one that was still squirming. The jet jerked his head at Springer.

"Who's that?" He asked snottily.

Deadlock glanced down at Springer under his foot and snorted imperiously. "Nobody important." He answered. "Just a dead mech walking."

Springer rolled his optics at him. Above them, the speck had drifted closer in what felt like a lazy circle to Springer. "I'm not walking dumb aft." He snarked up at the 'con.

His smart comment got him another kick in the shoulder, but he'd been expecting that, so he ground his teeth together and managed not to scream as what felt like fire spread under his armor.

The two 'cons went back to ignoring their conscious captive as Deadlock tossed Skywarp a pair of stasis cuffs.

"Cuff the engineer, just in case he comes to before we can get him back to Kaon." He ordered.

Skywarp was too busy giggling to himself to be offended by the groundpounder telling _him _what to do. "Ooo, Shockwave's gonna have a lot of fun with this one." He said as he snapped the cuffs to Wheeljack's limp wrists. The static sound of a brief electro-magnetic bolt running through the completed circuit showed that the cuffs worked. "This Autosnot's pretty close to Prime and the officers isn't he?"

Deadlock nodded. "Yep, that and he's their go-to guy for new weapons and technology. If we can get inside his head we'll probably get past the Iacon defenses without losing a single spark."

The Decepticons laughed darkly. "It's about time that fraggin' city fell. We've been starin' at it so long I see it in my recharge." Skywarp spat before jerking his head at Springer again. "Hurry up and finish that one off. One less Autobot will make my orbit."

Deadlock smirked. "My pleasure." He said, letting the muzzle of his blaster drift closer to Springer's chest. At this range there wasn't a scraplet's chance in the Pit that he'd survive.

"You guys ever dealt with a fragged off organic before?" Springer suddenly asked before Deadlock could shoot.

The two cons gave him a skeptical look, but held off on firing for the moment. Springer doubted they even knew what an organic was.

"Yeah," he said, smirk growing, "I didn't think so."

Above the Decepticons' unsuspecting heads, the drifting speck flew closer, coalescing into a recognizable form.

Springer smirked. "You guys are so slagged."

...

Air warfare was nothing new to Peg and Nathanial. They were made for it after all. They were used to ducking and dodging flying projectiles as enemies swooped over them, aiming for their heads.

But this wasn't some skirmish against wraith-like shadows. The dust devils enjoyed splitting themselves up into showers of black dust, like ash, that would enshroud rider and mount before sucking them dry of enough life that they couldn't stay in the air anymore. Then they watched as their enemy fell with just enough awareness left that they realized what would happen when they hit the ground.

No, Nathanial had a feeling that if he fell during this battle, he'd be dead before he hit the ground.

Nathanial leaned down against Peg's wiry neck as she dove a hundred feet to avoid the Seeker fire that had come close to incinerating them. All around them the sky was full of fire as the small force of Autobot Seekers took on their Decepticon counterparts. The odds were near five to one as far as Nat could tell, but the Aerialbots were still managing to hold their own against Starscream and his Seekers.

The neon green Seeker that had just fired at Nat and Peg twisted around in a heart-stopping maneuver that left him right behind Nathanial. The human man's mouth thinned as he led Peg through a series of twists and dives in an attempt to lose his tail, but the Seeker stayed with him.

The Seeker suddenly laughed loud enough that Nat heard him over the wind. "What?! Don't you wanna come and play organic squishy?! I promise not to break you too quick!"

_"Isn't that nice of him?" _Nat thought where Peg could hear.

The Equine tossed her head angrily. _"I'll show him who the plaything is!" _She shouted.

With a primal, horse-like, scream, she dove and then threw her wings out stiff against the wind. The air pushed her back as the Seeker shot overhead. Then she was flapping again, rising up to be behind the neon jet.

Nathanial fired off a bolt of lightning at the Seeker, catching him on the back end.

"Youch!" The jet yelped, jumping even in the air as the electricity damaged one of his rear thrusters, making it smoke profusely. "Slaggin' organic bit me!" He shouted at no one in particular.

"Well bite it back you moron!" The blue form of Thundercracker shot back as he barrel-rolled overhead to try and lose the heat-seeking missiles Slingshot had sent after him. The missiles tightened their own spin as their onboard targeting systems tracked his movements, but the non-sentient computers were no match for the Seeker's processor and it wasn't long before one of the six missiles clipped another, sending them all into oblivion without hitting their target.

Thundercracker pulled out of his roll as the massive explosion lit the sky up behind him.

"Ha!" He barked, smirking at the smoking wreck of missile casings as they fell to the ground behind him. "You need an upgrade Autoscum-_oof!"_

The Seeker was cut off as a white frame suddenly collided with him from above, sending them both in a tangled heap towards the ground. Instinctively, Thundercracker tried to fight back, but the slagger was clinging to his wing joints, making it impossible for him to transform.

"Get the Pit off me fraggin' Autoscum!" He snarled at the other mech standing on him even as they spiraled out of control towards the surface of Cybertron below.

"That's Air Raid to you Decepticreep!" Air Raid laughed as he unbalanced Thundercracker further.

The blue Seeker snarled and spit curses at Air Raid, but the Autobot wouldn't let go. Somehow this was all kind of familiar to the Decepticon Seeker, and then he remembered hearing how one of those stupid Aerialbots liked to cut engines and freefall onto his enemies from above. If they didn't lose control because of the first initial shock of being ambushed, then the mech held on until it was too late for the Seeker to avoid a fatal crash.

Thundercracker growled. That trick might work on lesser Seekers, but he wasn't one of them.

"Get. _Off._ Slagger!" He ground out before throwing his weight around so that he flipped upside down for a nano-klik.

It was enough. With a startled, "Whoa!" Air Raid was thrown into the air, although Thundercracker saw with disgust that the Aerialbot just transformed back into his own jet-mode and tore off with a laugh.

He resisted the urge to chase him and tear his wings from his body. Lord Megatron's orders had been very specific: he and his Seekers were to guard the air above the city center where the AllSpark was kept. And only an idiot like Starscream disobeyed orders when Megatron had that gleam in his optics.

::Blue team, fall back and regroup around the city center. Don't let those slaggin' Aerialbots through.:: He commanded to the five Seekers with him.

Four immediately did as told, a few giving the Aerialbots a parting shot before they twisted around mid-air and clustered tight over the city center so the Autobot Seekers couldn't get close enough to help their ground bound counterparts.

::But what about that slaggin' organic?!:: The last Seeker whined across the comm. channel.

Thundercracker's growl was almost as frightening as Megatron's. ::Forget the organic and guard the AllSpark! Unless you want Megatron coming after _you_ when one of those Aerialbots get through!::

Nathanial couldn't hear the Seekers' conversation, but he figured something must be up when the jet chasing him and Peg furiously suddenly backed off and aimed his nose towards the middle of the city.

Sparing a brief look over his shoulder, he decided not to question the miracle. That Seeker had been pretty fragged after Nat had shot his rear thruster out. And with the way the mech had been spitting profanities and threats at him, the human had begun to think that some sort of fatal squishing wasn't all that far in his future.

He let out a breath of relief as he guided Peg around in a tight circle and lower in the sky. _"Rejoin with the Aerialbots Peg, just stay below the buildings for now. Less chance of getting shot in the process."_ He though as Peg began to make her way through the leaning, empty structures of Tyger Pax.

She snorted at him, but didn't turn her focus from the tricky flying in front of her. _"I know what cover is stupid."_ She snapped at him.

Nathanial ignored Peg's name-calling. Peg always got a little high strung when people started shooting at her.

Peg was flying so fast now that Nathanial almost missed it. He was switching his attention between the ground and the air in front of them to make sure nothing fatal was coming their way when he caught sight of a speck of white below him, stark against the charcoal gray of the city. But it went by so fast it was barely more than a blur.

"Wait! Peg go back." Nat ordered out loud. It was quieter here since most of the Autobot and Decepticon forces had made their way closer to the AllSpark's position.

_"But the Aerial-dorks are _this _way."_ Peg reminded him.

"I know Peg!" Nathanial told her, twisting around in the saddle to try and catch sight of the familiar color again. "Just go back!"

One ear flicked back in confusion, Peg did so. Rising high enough into the air that she could bank in one smooth turn.

Nathanial frowned, eyes skimming over the dark ground for sign of the familiar color scheme again. But Peg found it first.

_"There!" _She whispered across the tether, even though the four bots below them couldn't have heard it even if they had tried.

Nathanial's face darkened when he saw that the white frame he had seen was Wheeljack. He was lying face down in the rubble, out cold given his slack frame and the way the other three mechs were largely ignoring him.

Nathanial recognized two of the mechs on the ground. One was a Seeker he'd seen on the battlefield before, although he didn't know his designation. The other was younger than the rest, and painted a dull sort of military green. Even if he hadn't been injured and the Decepticons hadn't been pointing their guns at his spark, Nat would've known he was an Autobot. He remembered seeing the mech following Ultra Magnus as the Autobots had sped off towards Tyger Pax.

Nathanial angled Peg into another turn as they finished their pass over the four mechs. "What d'ya say Peg? Plan M?" He asked rhetorically.

Peg tossed her head, climbing abruptly to get into place. _"One of my favorites!" _She told him.

Nat managed a wry grin as Peg climbed higher and then all of a sudden, dove towards the ground at almost a ninety degree angle.

Nathanial barely heard the trapped Autobot say, _"You guys are so slagged," _before he and Peg rammed hooves first into the unknown Decepticon's back.

The mech pitched forward just as Springer pulled a field knife and drove it into his enemy's side. Nat only caught the beginning of the Decepticon's roar of pain and rage before he and Peg were swallowed up by her transwarp portal.

With the pop of displaced space, they reappeared behind the purple Seeker. The flier must have guessed where they were coming from, because he was already half turned around to meet them, but a lightning bolt from Nathanial's weapon kept him from swatting them out of the air.

Peg and Nat disappeared through another portal as the sudden surge of electricity pummeled the Seeker's circuits, making him half collapse. But they came out behind the off- balance Seeker almost immediately. With a horse-y laugh, Peg ran up his back, her metal shoes striking yellow sparks where they connected with the violet flier's metal skin. With a raspy sounding swear, the mech fell forward, knocking his head against a large piece of debris that just happened to be in the way.

The Seeker lay there, twitching slightly as streaks of remaining electricity crawled over his neck and back. Nat allowed himself a grim smile before Peg threw herself through another transwarp portal.

They appeared in front of the first 'con again. This one wasn't nearly as good at expecting where Equine and rider were going to be, because a flash of surprise crossed his face.

Peg took the advantage to rear back and plant her front hooves in the Decepticon's optics with a scream.

Outer casing shattered in one optic and cracked in the other, the 'con never saw Springer's right punch coming.

He hit him with enough force to send the 'con stumbling backwards into an already crumbling wall, but that was all the strength Springer had left in him. He slumped backwards, holding his shoulder as energon leaked out past his fingers.

"_Finally_," he sighed as he leaned back. "I swear I've never wanted to punch someone's lights out that badly." He told Nat with a crooked grin, but his words were weak and tired.

Nathanial nodded as Peg carefully landed on a flat piece of rubble. "We need to get you and Wheeljack out of here." He said, although the 'how' was a sticking point. The human frowned as he looked over the unconscious Wheeljack and the way Springer could barely keep himself upright.

Broken cooling fans were still working overtime to try and keep up with Springer's overheated frame, so it took the young Wrecker a moment to answer. "Wheeljack signaled a med-team before they got him. Should be here soon."

Nathanial nodded sharply. _"I just hope they get here soon enough."_ He thought where only Peg could hear him.

Peg craned her neck back towards him and gave a small nod.

_"He doesn't look so good."_

Springer shuttered his optics and leaned back with a small groan, making Peg prance nervously in place. Nathanial just twisted in the saddle, straining his ears for the sound of mechs approaching.

The loud _Pop!_ of air suddenly being shoved aside was their only warning before a large fist slammed through the rock Peg had been standing on. Both mount and rider screamed as they were thrown sideways, Peg trying wildly to transform so they wouldn't be thrown to the ground like a wet rag.

She couldn't get her wings out before the ground rose up to meet them, but she did manage to open another transwarp portal a klik before they would have connected with the earth. Nathanial clung to Peg's mane as they fell sideways through the sudden tear in space. Stray energies licked at his legs, trying to rip him away from Peg's sturdy frame. But his grip on the reigns was failing. And the portal was all too willing to up and swallow him whole.

But then solid ground was bashing against his shoulder. He distantly heard his own terrified shout mix with Peg's as they slid across a patch of clear ground. Peg hadn't been able to avoid the ground, but at least their sudden trip through the portal had changed their momentum enough to keep them from being smashed into pieces.

Nathanial's head was spinning so bad that it took him longer then it should have to realize they weren't moving anymore. Somehow, he managed to crack his eyes open to see if Springer and Peg were still alive.

That purple Seeker was standing over him, grinning wickedly.

"You're not the only one that knows that trick Squishy." He snickered, one clawed hand reaching threateningly toward the downed pair.

Nathanial tried to move, but Peg's still body was pinning one of his legs. He couldn't even get up, much less get away.

The purple Seeker's grin grew at the sight of the pinned organic. But he stopped his hand before he actually laid a claw on Nat or Peg.

"Ha!" He snickered. "Made ya squirm."

Nathanial grit his teeth as the Seeker stood up and walked over to Wheeljack's frame. Grabbing a still foot, he dragged the Autobot across the ground to where the other Decepticon was still slumped against the broken wall.

"This ain't over Squishy," the Seeker said as put his other hand on his fellow Decepticon's shoulder, "We'll finish this later."

He grinned at Nathanial again, red optics silently laughing at the helplessness Nat was suddenly swamped with.

And then with one final _Pop!_ the three mechs disappeared without a trace.

The medical team arrived thirty kliks later. It was thirty kliks too late in Nathanial's mind.

...

Even though she knew it was useless, Aria flailed her arms as the empty space of the canyon sucked her down farther and farther into its abyss. She tried to pull in air so she wouldn't pass out before she hit the bottom, but the wind was sucking the breath from her chest faster then she could drag it in.

She had never felt so helpless before. And that was saying something given her lifestyle. But now she had no weapon, no plan, and no one there to save her.

_"Well I suppose now I'm actually as lonely as I feel."_ Her brain thought through the panicky fog currently choking it.

She wasn't even sure she was screaming. That seemed to be the right thing to do in a situation like this – falling to one's death – but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe it was because she was having a hard enough time _breathing_ much less screaming. Maybe it was because there was no one around to hear her anyway. Or maybe she'd just been spending too much time with Chromia...

The thought of her friend opened the floodgates Aria had tried so hard to keep closed. Memories, pictures of her strange little family, flew through her mind's eye almost faster then she could look at them. Before she knew it, she was crying. She'd never get to see them again now. Just like Sera.

_"She won't even know I'm dead," _Aria thought in horror, _"if she's still alive in the first place." _Tears swelled in Aria's eyes immediately at the thought. She had never found the nerve to think that before. The thought had always been there, buried in the back of her mind, ever since she had realized just how big the gap was between her sense of time and the Autobots. She's sent her sister back ages ago, when Bee and the others had still been children.

What if Sera wasn't even alive anymore?

_"I guess I'll find out soon enough." _Aria thought as half the tears that had collected in her eyes immediately evaporated because of the wind. The other half flew upward as she fell, leaving little tears suspended briefly above her like a trail before gravity pulled then back down after her.

Somewhere in the back of her head Aria thought she was just latching onto something, _anything_, no matter how awful so she wouldn't have to think about where she was headed. She somehow managed to shake herself in midair and tried hard not to think of anything as she fell another hundred feet or so, but her brain just didn't know how to shut up.

_"I've got to be getting close to the ground now." _She didn't so much think as hear herself think. _"Oh please God don't let it hurt too mu-"_

A sudden jarring pain suddenly slammed thought her whole body like a flash fire, cutting off her thinking. And then just as suddenly, everything went numb.

...

...

...

..._"So this is what it's like to be dead huh?"_

It sure _hurt_ like she was dying. One of her arms was throbbing like her pulse was suddenly made of lightning and the other one was so cold it hurt. That and she just _knew_ she was going to have bruises all up and down her back when she woke up tomorrow. If there was a tomorrow. Did the dead go through things like 'tomorrow'? Aria kind of hoped not.

And then a loud voice was shouting joyfully in her ear.

"Hey Jie Mei! Fancy meeting you here. If I'd known you were going to drop in I woulda brought you some flowers or something!"

Sadly, the first thing Aria felt was confusion. Why did God want to give her flowers? And since when did he not use proper English? Aria was a little put out by that. She had figured that if _anyone_ actually obeyed _all _the rules of grammar, it was the being that had ultimately created them in the first place. She was pretty sure it was cheating if He didn't.

She was distracted from her strange train of thought by the sudden realization that she still had eyes that somehow could still open, although it took a few tries before she got that far. Aria blinked when she realized a) she was not dead and b) she was in the cockpit of an Autobot Seeker.

"What?" The Seeker suddenly asked over the wind noise, his voice so close it was like Aria was sitting next to him in a crowded theater. "Not even a 'hello, how are you?' after all these years? Gosh Jie Mei I knew I wasn't your favorite but still, that hurts."

The voice didn't sound very hurt, Aria reflected, although it did sound exceedingly familiar, if not older then the last time she'd heard it.

"I know that voice," Aria muttered to herself, so amazed that she was still breathing that she forgot how to talk to herself quietly, "I know that voice..."

She had the vague idea that the Seeker was laughing silently at her as some resemblance of sense came back into her head. Aria remembered where she'd heard that voice before. She remembered singing to it every night that the little Seekerling had had a nightmare about Starscream coming to get him like some kind of screechy-voiced boogeyman.

"...Fastlane?" She whispered uncertainly. Maybe she _was_ dead, that little voice in the back of her head mumbled at her, she was dead and going crazy. Yeah, that explained it.

But then the Seeker laughed at her and she knew she wasn't dead. However crazy was still up in the air.

"Long time no see Jie Mei!" Fastlane cried as he turned sharply around and aimed himself back towards the city. "Man, you would not _believe_ what we had to do to get here."

Aria was still sitting just as she had landed – arms half hanging out of the cockpit, one leg jammed up on the dashboard, and her eyes about to pop out of her head with shock – however it was very uncomfortable, so she straightened up in the pilot's seat she was sprawled in. There was a slight hiss as Fastlane closed and sealed the see-through canopy now that her limbs were no longer in its way.

Immediately the wind noise disappeared, making it so quiet that for a second Aria thought she had gone deaf.

"Yeah," Aria heard herself finally answer Fastlane, "you probably wouldn't believe what I've just gone through either." She couldn't tell if it was the sudden quiet or the fact that her ears were ringing, but it sounded like she was mumbling.

Fastlane's laughter was infinitely louder as it filled the cockpit, making Aria grin at the warm sound.

"Probably not!" He agreed. "What, were you trying to fly Jie Mei?"

Aria smiled in watery relief at him. "Not anymore I'm not. If I want some air time from now on I'll come and pester you and Cloudraker for a ride."

She paused as the other Seeker's name automatically fell out of her mouth. "Is Cloud here too?" She asked in a soft voice, more serious than before.

"Yeah," Fastlane answered a good part of his humor disappearing as well. "He, Cloudcover, and Fireflight are over on the other side of the city. I'm out here with Smokerunner while Silverbolt and the others are all in the center mosh pit, trying to keep Megatron from getting his grimy claws on the AllSpark. It was dumb luck that I saw you out here at all really. I was circling around to join up with Smoke' and then _fwing!_ I see this little speck of an organic go flyin' into the air like someone had thrown her. I could hardly believe it was you though." He added in a softer tone.

Aria was busy looking over what parts of Fastlane she could see. The center dashboard of the cockpit where she sat was the usual mess of indecipherable buttons, levers, and dials and she could feel the deep throated rumble of his engine as he tore through the air. Outside though she could see the swept back angle of his gray and red wings. She smiled when she saw he still had the two bright red speed lines painted on each wing, just like he'd had since he was a kid.

He'd grown up strong, she realized, wherever it was that his guardian Smokerunner had taken him to after they had left Iacon.

"Everything you do involves dumb luck Fastlane." She suddenly said, knowing that if she didn't say _something_ she'd end up crying again. But before he could retaliate, Aria leaned forward and planted a kiss on his dashboard to show she was only teasing. "And I can't believe it's you either! You've grown so _big_." She whispered with an elder sister's awe.

If Fastlane had had a mouth as a jet, he would have grinned sheepishly. "Aw shucks..." he mumbled.

Aria felt a lopsided smile creep onto her frozen face. Inside she supposed that some things would never change.

Fastlane suddenly revved his engine self-consciously, like an embarrassed person clearing their throat. "So you gonna stick around Jie Mei or do you have a post somewhere you need to get back to?" He asked, suddenly all seriousness.

Aria frowned slightly. It was kind of weird to hear Fastlane be so un-sarcastic. That and she was no longer sure if she had a 'post' as he'd called it.

She craned her neck to try and get a good look at the ground. They were over the city proper now, but she could still see the rim where she'd been tossed by that stupid 'con. Although she didn't recognize it at first glance. Some explosion or another must have struck when she'd been trying her hand at skydiving without a parachute, because a large section of the city's edge had been sheared away, leaving the edge ragged and unrecognizable.

"Looks like a good mile was torn off," Aria stated flatly. Inwardly she wondered if the 'con had managed to escape or if the same explosion had dragged him down to the canyon's bottom too.

She tried not to care about what had happened to the vindictive mech, but somehow she didn't quite make it.

"I was supposed to keep the 'cons from getting any runners out, but I don't know if that'll still work." She admitted.

Fastlane made a thoughtful sound over the deafening noise of his engine and the wind. "All the bridges on this side of the city have been destroyed," he told her, "so nope, no runners this way."

"What about the Seekers though? They could still get out."

If Fastlane had had a head he would have shaken it. As it was he tilted sideways on his axis instead, rocking Aria slightly from side to side. "Nah, they're too caught up in the battle. The Decepticon groundpounders might be all high on dark energon, but I guess Starscream's still holding it back from the air corp."

"I can see how high Seekers would make for a bad flight." Aria commented.

Fastlane revved in agreement as he twisted around to avoid shots from a Decepticon that had tried to come up behind him. He focused on his opponent long enough to shoot out his thruster, leaving him to spiral down into the warring city before he answered his sister.

"Prime called up every last one of us Aerialbots," he told her as he angled to the left where Smokerunner was caught up in a bizarre kind of chase that had him following close at the contrails of neon green Seeker and two other Seekers following at his own contrail. "Between that and the fact that Starscream left about a third of his fliers behind to guard Kaon, we're about evenly matched."

Ahead of them, Smokerunner dodged so that one of the Seekers behind him accidentally shot the one he'd been chasing by mistake. The lead Seeker exploded in a ball of fire and the two Decepticons immediately pulled back, seeming suddenly nervous.

"Alright," Fastlane amended as his guardian flipped backwards before straightening out to set the 'cons in his sight, "so maybe it's more of a challenge for them than us."

Smokerunner shot past Fastlane with a cackle before Aria could say anything. The two Seekers that had been chasing him were currently drifting down to the ground as flaming shrapnel.

"Come on kid! I'm ahead of you by three now! Whatcha got to say to _that_?" He taunted.

Fastlane was already shouting something back, but the words sounded distant to Aria's ears all of a sudden. "I say watch yer back ol' mech! You're not going to be ahead for long!"

The roar that had been building in Aria's head was suddenly too loud for her to hear Smokerunner's response. She thought the sound might have been her pulse banging through her head, but she didn't know why all the blood was suddenly flooding to her head. She wasn't hurt, at least not that she'd noticed beyond all the bruising on her backside.

Aria put a hand to her head as if that could stop the sudden ache in her skull.

Fastlane must have noticed she suddenly wasn't doing so well. "Jie Mei?" He asked softly, sounding a little scared now. "Jie Mei you alright?"

"Yeah," Aria forced the word out, "yeah I'm fuh-"

The word stuck in her throat. She suddenly couldn't breathe. It felt like a large iron claw had suddenly appeared and latched onto her throat. She reached up a hand, but didn't feel anything there but her own skin. She tried to breath past the illusion, but the whatever-it-was was wrapped so tight around her throat that not even air could get through.

"Jie Mei?!" Fastlane shouted. "Jie Mei what's wrong?"

Distantly she knew he was shouting in her ear, but with the blood pounding in her temples it sounded like he was on the other side of the city. A ghostly laugh drifted out of the air in front of her and the ghost claw gripped her throat tighter. Only suddenly it wasn't _her_ throat. And she was no longer sitting in Fastlane's cockpit. She was kneeling down on an ancient metal floor, a strange kind of console to her left and an opening in the wall to her right.

Before her was Megatron.

A Megatron with bright, violet optics.

Aria felt her eyes start to bulge out of her head. This wasn't possible. She was sitting with Fastlane, a thousand feet in the air! Megatron couldn't even be here! And since when had he gotten smaller?

She felt herself reach up again to try and dislodge the hand trying to dig its way past her armor and into the softer energy conduits and the main fuel line that ran through her neck. Only now it wasn't her hands that she saw latch onto Megatron's to try and pry his off; they were large gray metal hands, covered in bright yellow armor.

Megatron's violet optics pinned her in place, but that didn't stop her from trying to fight back. The yellow-gray hands pried at Megatron's, trying to loosen the pressure on her fuel line. But her attempts were becoming more and more feeble. It wouldn't be long now until she passed out altogether.

Megatron realized this too, but he found it a great deal funnier then Aria did because he threw back his head and laughed again, the sound somehow sounding clearer to Aria's ears even as it felt more distant to her audios.

"You just don't get it, do you bug?" Megatron spat with a wicked smirk, the light from his new violet optics casting the rest of his face into stark, Halloween-esque shadows.

"There are worse things out there than _dying_."

Then before Aria could even begin to wonder what he meant, Megatron sharply yanked his hand away, taking what felt like half of the yellow-armored throat with it.

Aria screamed as she was thrown back against Fastlane with the force of the blow, scaring the life out of her brother even as she surprised herself. She could still scream?

"Jie Mei!" Fastlane shouted to be heard over her sudden wailing._ "Jie Mei!" _He tried again. "What's going on?! You just about made my engine stall!"

He was only now regaining the air he'd lost when he'd dropped from the surprise of Aria suddenly screaming bloody murder.

Aria was too busy pressing her hands as tight as she could against her throat to answer him. She was sure it was too late though as warm fluid flowed past her fingers. It was getting hard to breathe again...

"Jie Mei!" Fastlane shouted again, sounding more panicky than before. "You're going to choke yourself!"

One of the chair restraints suddenly undid itself and smartly smacked her knuckles. Aria jumped, hand flying away from her neck in her surprise and oxygen suddenly flew down her throat.

She gasped, more confused and frightened than before. She reached up a hand, more tentatively this time, and fingered her neck. It was still wet with something, but when she pulled her hand away, she saw it wasn't blood.

It was tears. She was crying again, she finally realized. And when she felt her throat again, she finally recognized the feel of undamaged skin.

She slumped back with a shaky breath against Fastlane. She was whole. But that didn't stop the gruesome sight of mangled conduits and a half crushed vocorder from appearing every time she blinked.

Fastlane was still watching his sister worriedly. She was too pale he thought, and her breathing was quick and shallow, like it was whenever she woke up from a particularly bad nightmare.

"Jie Mei?" He tried again in a voice he hoped was soft enough that it wouldn't startle her. "What happened?"

For a long moment Aria just stared vacantly at his control panel. He tried asking again, and her eyes twitched uncertainly, as if she was wondering who had just said that.

Finally she seemed to remember where she was and sat up a little straighter. She was still pale, but her breathing was beginning to even out. That was good right?

"We need to find Bumblebee," she suddenly said, more tears falling down her face although she hardly noticed.

Her tight words managed to chase away any relief Fastlane had begun to feel. "But-" he tried.

_"Now!"_

Fastlane wheeled around without another word. He tried to steel himself against the bad feeling that was making his tanks churn as he angled himself towards the center of the city, but he couldn't quite wall it off. Neither said another word as Fastlane pinpointed Bumblebee's last known location and gunned his engines, leaving only the faint pop of the broken sound barrier behind them.


	29. Chapter 29: Bumblebee at Tyger Pax

0.0 Next chapter up and Eek! Oh my gosh it's one that's been taking up space in my head _forever! _But I'm so excited. I think it turned out really good and I really hope you guys are excited for it too! X)

And thank you _thank you_ Bee4ever, Random Citizen, Khalthar, Totem Prime, Xireana Zetsubou, Mercedes Wolfcry, Lunar Mist, and jschar00 for your reviews last time. That made me feel much better. And I loved seeing all your freak outs, wide eyes, and general all round excitement about what's happened and what's coming! It made all squeaky. ;3

And just a heads up, I'm still aiming to put the next chapter up next week, but as of right now it's unfinished. So if it's not up in a week, well, just know that I tried really really hard to get it up there. And if I can't get back on a weekly-posting schedule, then I'm going to aim for a post every two weeks. Hopefully that'll give me enough time to get thins written...

XD But I'm really excited for you guys to read this next chapter so I'm gonna let you get to it! Please leave me reviews so that I know what you thought!

And if you **_really_ **want to make to tear your insides apart near the end of the chapter, you should listen to the tracks _Cybertron_ and _Bumblebee _from the Transformers 07 movie score. :) Just a little something I found out while editing the chapter...Enjoy! :3

...

The Long Road Home

29 – Bumblebee at Tyger Pax – 29

Bumblebee had led his team into Tyger Pax with very little trouble. He would've liked to think it was because they were just that much stronger than the 'cons, but it was probably closer to the truth to say that he and the others just worked that well together.

The yellow mech fired as Arcee spun out of the way of the 'con she'd been taking on. Bee's shot blasted through the Decepticon's chest, hitting his spark cleanly and leaving a half-melted hunk of slag behind as Arcee finished her cartwheel to land on the now-offline Decepticon's other side.

Both Autobots returned to their original back-to-back position, sensors alert for whatever it was that was coming next.

No more Decepticons appeared out of the ruins. "That must've been the last of the dark 'cons lurking around." Arcee said, optics and sensors still peeled for enemies. "The red 'cons must've had enough sense to get the Pit out of here." She said with a hard edged smirk.

Bumblebee nodded his agreement, glad for the respite. Any longer and his cannon would have overheated on him, which would have been even worse than usual since that would make the second one to overheat this go around. The bubble guns Wheeljack had given him and Arcee had already done that and, of course, exploded.

_"Wouldn't be a Wheeljack original if they hadn't."_ Bumblebee thought as he sent out a silent burst of pulsewaves to the rest of his team. Pulsewaves carried an inevitable time lag with them, unlike comm. lines which were better about getting messages to and from bots in real time. But Bee had no doubt Soundwave had already hacked into as many Autobot comm. lines as he possibly could and Blaster could only hold him off on so many fronts while trying to do the same with the Decepticon's communications.

::Yellow team check in. What's your position?::

It took a moment for the other three's replies to reach him. Predictably Bluestreak answered first.

::All set here Bumblebee, just entering the edge of the city and man is it clean over here. It's weird. I mean they might as well have some sort of sign set up saying SMOKING WRECKAGE WILL BE PROSOCUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW or something like that because-::

Bumblebee shook his head as his friend's voice was abruptly cut off. "Blue's in place." He told Arcee. "And he managed to run out of space on a pulsewave."

Arcee smiled crookedly and shook her head like Bee had a moment ago. "Only Bluestreak." She murmured before taking the chance to reload her weapon and scan their surroundings once again.

Fortunately the other message was much shorter. ::Sprocket here. Tracks and I just passed into the city center. See you at the temple.::

Bumblebee nodded at Arcee purposefully once he'd finished with the last 'wave. "They're all on schedule. Let's go." He told her.

With an affirming nod, Arcee spun on her heel and followed up quickly up the street, sticking to cover as much as possible and relying on the other to cover their back when open spaces were unavoidable.

"Ya know," Arcee said as she briefly paused to watch the nearby torn rooftops for any signs of Decepticon movement so Bumblebee could catch up with her."I still think you should have gone with 'the Bee team'."

Bumblebee grinned behind his faceplate at the pun. "You'd better be careful there 'Cee. You're starting to sound like Skids and Mudflap."

There was only a nano-klik of sadness at the mention of the twins. Out of all the younglings, they were the only ones that hadn't made it this far. And even though the two troublemakers had annoyed the other young bots to no end – especially Arcee whom they (for some bizarre reason) had picked on almost constantly – they still missed them.

But it was only a split second sadness. And then Arcee scowled at Bumblebee and, in true Arcee fashion, snapped at him. "You take that back or I _will _shoot you."

Bumblebee grinned again as they pressed deeper into the city, knowing she wouldn't.

The farther they got into Tyger Pax, the less destruction they saw. Fewer buildings had been shelled out here and there were still one or two decorative fountains and garden plots scattered in what had formerly been well-to-do plazas.

"I can see what Bluestreak meant. This is getting freaky." Arcee mumbled when they were a handful of blocks from the AllSpark Temple. "It's almost like nothing happened here. There's not even blaster marks on any of the buildings."

She was right, Bumblebee saw. It was like a line had been drawn on the ground right in front of them. Behind them the cityscape had been reduced to rubble and ruin; blackened out shells and little else remained of both buildings and the bots that had lived in them. But the buildings in front of them hardly looked dusty. They still stood on their original foundations, metal gleaming slightly in the smoky air. It was like walking through a ghost town.

"I wonder if the whole planet used to look like this." Arcee mumbled. "Except with bots living everywhere obviously."

Bumblebee nodded. Like her, they had appeared out of the Well of AllSparks after the war had started, much to everyone's surprise. They could only guess at what Cybertron had been like before Megatron. Although from the stories Optimus and the other adults had told them, it hadn't exactly been the best place to live, even back then.

The two Autobots edged carefully over the unmarked line that separated the city center from the rest of Tyger Pax. Sensors on high alert for any signs of Decepticons, they made their way quickly and quietly down the empty streets that ran out from the AllSpark Temple like spokes on a wheel.

The part of Bumblebee that wasn't focused on their surroundings gradually noticed Arcee's increasing anxiety as they continued deeper into the city.

"This is freaking me out." She said again in a lower voice. "Everything's just been left alone. Why the Pit would they leave this part of the city untouched for so long?"

Bumblebee ducked into a small alley and used it to scope out the upcoming terrain before answering. "Because they didn't want to risk damaging the AllSpark." He told her. "Without it, there won't be any new energon and Cybertron will never recover from the war."

They made it safely a few more yards before Arcee spoke again. "Then why now? It's not like Megatron can _make_ energon himself by stealing the AllSpark. No bot can use the AllSpark like that. It just isn't possible." She said before muttering suspiciously, "It's like the dang thing's got a processor of its own."

Bumblebee nodded. "Yeah I know. But Megatron _can_ darken all the energon at its source, leaving bots that aren't all hyped up on dark energon to starve."

Arcee rolled her optics with a frown. "So, what? The choices are become a junkie or die? Great." She grumbled. "Whatever happened to 'just say no to drugs'?"

Bumblebee looked back at her over his yellow shoulder guard and grinned. "I guess Megatron didn't have a sister like Chromia to keep him in line."

Arcee returned the wry grin before darting from her foxhole in a flash of dull pink armor.

They crossed the remaining four city blocks before coming to an abrupt stop. And not just because they were at their destination.

"Wow." Arcee mumbled as she and Bee craned their heads back to take in the sight before them.

"I guess this is the place." Bumblebee heard himself say.

"Uh-huh..."

'The place' was the Temple of the AllSpark, long ago called Simfur by the ancients. The temple stretched high above them, higher than anything they'd ever seen in their lives, although it was a low building compared to the ones that had once ringed the outer edge of the city. Unlike the rest of Tyger Pax, the temple had been carved into the jagged ground that had first covered the planet when Cybertron had been nothing but a primordial slagheap.

The temple itself was made of dark brownish-black metal ore and was shaped in the stair-step form of a ziggurat. From his mission debrief, Bumblebee knew that that top of the temple looked like someone had cut off the last few remaining steps, leaving a large, square hole at the temple's apex. He remembered reading somewhere that some historians presumed that the hole had served as a skylight, letting the natural light of Cybertron's sun fall directly on the AllSpark within. Others, Bee remembered, thought it had more to do with reverence for the cube that gave their planet (and consequently themselves) life, rather than practicality. Bumblebee just wondered if maybe the ancients just hadn't run out of stone and stopped building.

"I wonder if this is what Jie Mei feels like every day." Arcee commented as they stared up at the temple.

Mention of their sister reminded Bumblebee of why they were here. With a shake of his head, he managed to tear his optics away from Simfur. "Probably." He admitted, wondering how Aria could stand feeling so small all the time if that was true. "Now let's get down to it. The others are in position." He told her, just then getting the rest of the teams' confirmations that they were in place. He frowned at his sensors as he realized something else. "Still no sign of the Decepticons, dark or otherwise."

Arcee frowned at that too. "Somehow that does _not_ make me feel any better." She said as her gun transformed back into her arm and she crouched down at the edge of the trench that ran around Simfur's base. "Looks small enough to jump. And it's not far to fall if we don't make it." She told Bumblebee with a slight shrug.

Bumblebee spared a quick glance down at the trench. Simfur's foundation sat perhaps thirty feet below him, carved into the ancient ground by equally ancient hands. But Arcee was right; it wasn't much of a jump. Bumblebee could hardly guess what the trench had been made for, but obviously it wasn't for defense.

He was just about to tell Arcee to go ahead when an alarm went off on his sensors.

_"Oh slag-" _Bumblebee barely thought before Arcee yelled, "Dark 'con!"

Without thinking, Bumblebee spun around and dropped to one knee, narrowly avoiding the two blasts from his enemy's Scrapmaker rifle as they whirred through the air where his head had been a moment before. He returned fire, landing two solid blasts on the 'con's chest armor, but his cannon might as well have been a slingshot for all the impact it had on the dark Decepticon.

The mech, if he could still be called that, fixed his violet optics on Bumblebee and laughed low in his chest, Scrapmaker hanging forgotten at his side.

_"Oh man..."_ The thought drifted through Bumblebee's processor.

"Get to the temple!" He shouted at Arcee, already spinning back around and surging to his feet. They had a good lead on the 'con. Maybe it would be enough for them to get inside the relative safety of the temple before-

Bumblebee ducked reflexively as the Decepticon roared something between laughter and a war cry. Whatever kind of sound it was, it made his core cold and he pushed himself faster. He registered the sound of an engine next to him and saw that Arcee had half transformed so that she was now balancing on one wheel and skating forward faster then she could have run. One of those tricks Chromia had taught her from when she'd been an Elite Guard member he thought.

The edge of Simfur's trench was fast coming up to meet them and Bumblebee felt his spark casing tighten in anticipation of the jump-

-when something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground and sending him skidding across the rough ground with the force of its momentum.

Internal alarms were blaring in his processor and he barely registered the rev of Arcee's engine as she threw herself into the air before landing with a shout on the stair-step side of Simfur.

He was so focused on Arcee that it took Bee a moment to realize that the deeper buzz he was hearing was actually a voice coming from directly above him. And it was much closer than his partner.

"The itsy, bitsy bumblebee crawled up the spider's web," the dark Decepticon hummed like some demented youngling, "The spider came out to play and _bang _he killed him dead."

Bumblebee's mouth twisted in disgust behind his battle mask as he dealt with the bulk of his system alarms. "Primus, you're creepy." He muttered right before he wrangled a hand free and shot point blank at one of the arms pinning him to the dirt.

Dark energon or not, the Decepticon felt _that_. He threw his head back, roaring in pain and falling to the side as his forearm gave out beneath him. Not surprising, seeing as it was effectively scrap metal from his elbow joint down.

Bumblebee twisted himself onto his back and planted his feet against the 'con's chest, throwing him off. Not hesitating, he scrambled up and ran for the trench. Arcee was still perched on one of the stair steps, laying down cover fire when she could find a clear shot. Although that was more difficult now that Decepticons stationed down in the trench had noticed her. Fortunately the stair-step shape of the ziggurat was keeping them from getting a good shot at her.

Bumblebee scrambled for his subspace as he ran. The normal 'cons down in the trench were already starting to climb up to Arcee's level. They needed to get inside before the Decepticons reached her, or the dark 'con dismantled him. "Arcee!" Bumblebee shouted. "Get it open!" He ordered, arm going back to throw her the datapad that he had managed to wrangle out of subspace.

A sudden jerk at his knee nearly brought the throw up short, sending the datapad down in the trench and missing Arcee altogether. Fortunately Arcee had leaned out too far anyway, and her fingers managed to snag the edge of the datapad before the trench could claim it.

Not so fortunate was the dark Decepticon's death grip on Bumblebee's ankle.

"Frag," Bumblebee grumbled somehow managing not to do another face plant, "you just don't know when to quit do you?"

The Decepticon's only answer was a wild swing at Bumblebee's chest armor, but the yellow scout got his arms up in time to block him. The blow nearly numbed his arms altogether, but it was better than taking a direct hit to his spark.

The dark 'con's punch was still enough to send him sliding backwards. Risking a glance behind him, Bumblebee saw that he was only a few feet from the edge of the trench now. One more hit like that and he'd be sent flying into the trench where the other Decepticons would no doubt be very happy to see him.

An idea sprang into Bumblebee's bright yellow head. He grinned tightly behind his battle mask as he turned back to the dark Decepticon as he rose to his feet somewhat heavily.

_"Nyah!_" Bumblebee taunted him, blowing a raspberry for good measure, "so much for the super scary spider-bot. You couldn't catch me if I was in restraints!" He threw the words out there like a challenge.

He could practically feel the slack-jawed look Arcee was giving him. "Bumblebee what are you _doing?!_"

Only before she could finish her sentence, the dark 'con launched himself at Bumblebee, another wordless dark energon-induced battle scream echoing from his vocal processor as he reached out to throttle the smug bug-

-only to fly through the empty air as Bumblebee flattened himself to the ground.

Too late to stop now, the dark Decepticon flew over Bumblebee's head. He barely had a chance to see the triumphant look on 'Bee's face before he was soaring over the edge of the trench.

And then his momentum ran out and he ended up tumbling down in to the ravine. Right on top of three of his fellow Decepticons.

Taking advantage of the lull in blaster fire, Arcee peeked over the edge of her step to see what had happened.

She sent Bumblebee an incredulous look. "That so shouldn't have worked." She told him.

Bumblebee didn't answer her, not wanting to waste the brief chance he'd gotten at joining her. Quickly he picked himself up, backtracked a few steps to ensure a running start, and then flung himself across the trench before the Decepticons could get a hold of themselves.

At least one of the Decepticons must have escaped flatten-ation by the dark 'con, because a few shots streaked past Bumblebee's frame as he appeared over the trench, coming uncomfortably close. But Arcee's return fire managed to convince them to leave him alone.

He reached the other side with a jarring _"Oof!"_ He hadn't quite made it to the step Arcee was still crouched on and he tried to scrabble up before anymore Decepticons took it in their heads to shoot at him.

Arcee hauled him forward with one hand as she pinned the Decepticon's with her blaster in the other. Only bothering to collect the datapad he'd thrown her, Bumblebee disappeared into the shadowy opening Arcee had unlocked while he'd been busy with the violet-optic Decepticon. Behind him, he could hear the noise of angry 'cons growing louder as they finally managed to get the dark 'con off of them.

Arcee waited until Bumblebee was inside before she stepped through the hidden side entrance into the temple. As soon as she had, the jagged opening abruptly shut itself, effectively vanishing in the sudden dark.

Bumblebee felt a brief moment of disorientation as the dark gloom of Simfur suddenly became an all encompassing blackness held back only marginally by the electric blue-white of his cannon. Off to the side and slightly behind him, twin points of the same electric color marked Arcee's position.

There was a brief moment where the only sound was the hitched intake of their cooling systems.

"That," Arcee eventually said, "was a mess. I swear, sometimes traveling with you is like walking around with a bright yellow 'Shoot me' sign. If you had been born in the caste system, they would've turned you into a traffic light."

Bumblebee frowned at her in the dark as he switched his optics to read on the infrared spectrum. "Like you're one to talk Miss-Pastel-Pink-Tough-Femme?" He asked pointedly. Although with the infrared filter she hardly looked pink anymore. Now she registered as a mix of red, orange, and yellow layers of heat, with her spark and the mouths of her blasters showing white hot.

Bumblebee didn't need to see her face to know she was frowning at him. "Are you suggesting that I can't kick your aft because I'm pink? Because I'll gladly prove you wrong once we get out of here." She told him. "I happen to like pink."

"Well I happen to like yellow." Bumblebee answered back, his vents finally returning to some kind of normalcy. "And bring it on 'Cee. I'm so totally going to win this time."

Arcee rolled her optics but he could sense her smile now as the battle rush faded from both of them. "Spoken in true Bumblebee fashion." She commented before the gravity of where they were enveloped the pair of them once more. "Did the others make it in alright?"

Bumblebee checked his messages. The others had checked in while he'd been busy with the dark Decepticon. "Yeah, they're all in position. Let's get a move on and do the same."

Arcee nodded sharply in the dark. "I'm reading an exit about fifty yards away." She told him, voice now serious. "Should lead to the main area of the temple."

"That's where we should be then." Bumblebee said, the high pitched whir of his cannon increasing as he checked it over for damage.

Quickly and quietly the pair made their way down the roughly hewn tunnel they now found themselves in. Unlike the rest of Simfur's architecture, this tunnel wasn't recorded on any of the maps that had been made since its construction, and the only reason that the Autobots knew of it was because of the Archivist, Alpha Trion. It must have taken him orbits to sift through the information on Simfur, but it had definitely paid off. As near as anyone could tell, this entrance had originally been designed as the main entrance to the temple, but then the ancients had added another bottom-most layer to the temple for some reason, rendering this one pointless.

Under his infrared sensors, the end of the tunnel wasn't so much a bright speck against the dark as a soft, yellowy hole in the faintly pulsating red walls of the tunnel. It didn't take long to reach though, and as he got closer, Bumblebee cautiously switched back to his normal optic vision.

He held up a servo roughly a yard away from the exit and Arcee stopped immediately. The two waited long enough for sensors to confirm that there weren't any Decepticons near enough to see them leave the relative safety of the tunnel before quickly abandoning the passageway and making their way deeper into Simfur.

Simfur's layout was pretty simple, with a handful of intersecting corridors running through the outer edges with the AllSpark housed in the very center. But despite its simplicity, the farther in they got, the more impressed Bumblebee couldn't help but feel. He had thought the outside of the temple had been amazing, but _this_. This was beyond anything he'd even imagined before. And that was saying something really.

Arcee knew him too well to miss the glances he snuck in every now and then. "Would you cut it out? You can gawk later." She whispered as they paused at another intersection.

Bumblebee's optics swept the cross-section, saw no Decepticons, and nodded an all clear at Arcee before whispering back. "Can't help it. It's amazing."

She rolled her optics as they cautiously made their way towards the main room where the AllSpark would be. "Primus, why couldn't you be a normal mech? All obsessed with guns and racing and things?" She asked somewhat rhetorically.

Bumblebee just grinned at her behind his battle mask. "Now who's stereotyping?" He asked her before rounding the final corner and entering the temple's central room.

The center of Simfur was a great hollow, empty space, the walls tiered in a reflection of its stair-step exterior. It was so large that the natural light coming through the skylight far above them wasn't enough to chase away all the shadows that clustered in the temple's corners. A broad walkway, where Bumblebee and Arcee had come out, ran around the upper part of the room, only a few dozen feet away from the ceiling. Ancient but still-functional consoles had been carved directly into the temple side to their left, but otherwise the walls were bare.

And sitting directly under the skylight, tinged fiery-red by the repeated Seeker fire far overhead, sat the AllSpark itself.

An odd sense of awe and trepidation washed over Bumblebee, nearly threatening to send him to his knees as he first laid optics on the Cube. It felt so _old_ to him, he dimly thought, beyond even just ancient. The immense feeling of age seemed to wash off the AllSpark in endless waves that beat rhythmically against Bumblebee's bright yellow armor. But it was more than that, he thought. He was starting to feel stronger too. As if the waves pouring off the AllSpark were giving him strength even as they threatened to push him backwards.

Bumblebee managed to hold his ground against the bizarre tide. "Do you feel that?" He asked Arcee quietly.

Arcee shot him a peculiar look before going back to inspecting their surroundings. Whatever effect the AllSpark was having on him must not feel the same to her. "Feel what? The AllSpark?"

Bumblebee nodded. "It's weird," he muttered softly, "but in a good way. It feels like...life." Ancient, endless, ceaseless life.

And yet – somehow – he couldn't help but think that it also felt like the AllSpark was dying...

Arcee just shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe I was wrong before. Maybe you were supposed to be a Temple Guardian instead of a traffic sign. Both very noble professions I'm sure." She commented, but she was only paying half attention to him as she looked over the edge of their platform to see who else might be in the room below them.

Bumblebee looked at the AllSpark one more time, optics skimming over the unreadable glyphs inscribed in its dully gleaming surface and soaking in the strength the Cube offered him. "Maybe..." he muttered.

An explosion suddenly echoed through the skylight of the temple, much too close for comfort in Bee's opinion. The fighting was almost on top of them now.

He shook himself, trying to put away the contradicting feelings the AllSpark was giving him.

Arcee was too busy looking through her scope to pay him much attention. "I can make out eight Decepticons down there, two against each wall. Sprocket and Tracks are ready, just waiting for the signal."

"Right," Bumblebee said, and then shook himself again. This was no time to be distracted, even by something as awe-inspiring as the AllSpark. "Right." He said again as he got a firm grip on himself. "Get the inner doors open before any more of them show up."

Arcee shot him another, more nervous look. "And the Wreckers?" She asked. Much good getting the inner temple doors open would do them if the Wreckers weren't on the other side like they were supposed to be.

A bomb went off so close that it shook the temple to its foundations, with two more going off in quick succession after it. Above the sudden blast of noise and the leftover ringing in their audios, Bumblebee and Arcee heard the raucous cheering of mechs. That and the occasional taunt and creative set of expletives.

Bumblebee used the blanket of noise to cover the sound of his cannon charging up. "I think it's safe to say they're here." He whispered to Arcee.

Arcee nodded once sharply, and then silently made her way to the console to their left. Bumblebee checked the positions of the Decepticon guards, and then followed her before ducking down behind what limited cover there was on the platform.

The technology that made up Simfur's control console was ancient, but straightforward, so it didn't take more than two cycles for Arcee to find the controls for the inner doors and activate them.

"And Elita was worried she hadn't taught me enough about this stuff." Arcee muttered with a smirk as the gates began to grind open.

Predictably, all eight Vehicon blasters swung automatically towards the doors the nano-klik they began to open. And to be fair, the attack they were expecting _did _come as Wrecker fire lanced through the partially open door before the mechs themselves boiled into the large room to cut into the Decepticon ranks. But it was the sudden shower of blaster and cannon fire from behind that really unnerved them.

Two of the back Vehicons spun around as soon as they realized what was happening, but it was too late to avoid the trap. Bumblebee's cannon made short work of one as Sprocket and Tracks left their own hiding place to deal with the other.

The Vehicons were dead before they even rightly knew what was going on, but the Wreckers, along with Sprocket and Tracks, didn't stop moving.

"Circle up!" A mech with a patch bolted over the hole where one of his optics should've been and a long scar running down the other side of his faceplates shouted in a voice filled with authority. "Don't let 'em near the AllSpark!"

The Wreckers obeyed Righthook's order without question, falling into a defensive line around the giant Cube. They barely made it into position though before more Decepticon ground troops came pouring through the open door after them.

In less than two kliks flat, the floor below became a churning mosh pit of mechs as Wreckers met Vehicons in the massive shadow of the AllSpark.

Bumblebee frowned slightly, flicking a quick glance at the Cube that dominated the room. He felt crazy just thinking this, but it felt like the AllSpark was...conflicted somehow. Or perhaps torn was a better word for what it was...feeling.

Bumblebee shook himself, trying to write off the strange feeling as battle stress, but the idea just wouldn't leave him. It was like the AllSpark was in a state of near panic, reaching out towards first Autobots than Decepticons but never quite touching them, almost like a guardian that was watching two of its younglings fighting and not sure what to do to make them stop.

A stray shot slammed into the railing that lined the upper level, melting metal and bending the rail at an awkward angle. Reflexively, Bumblebee half ducked behind his cover before firing at a Vehicon that had managed to escape the press of the crowd.

Bumblebee missed and the Decepticon disappeared back into the press of mechs before he could fix that. The yellow mech grumbled to himself, but from his position on the upper level there wasn't much else he could do but sit tight and wait for clear shots to present themselves. As focused as Arcee was on the ancient console, he couldn't just jump down there and leave her back unguarded.

Bumblebee threw a quick look over his shoulder at Arcee to see the pink femme bent nearly double over Simfur's only working computer terminal. Her optics were glued to the screen as her fingers furiously typed in strings of commands that would, Primus willing, let them save the AllSpark from Megatron and the Decepticons.

"How's it coming Arcee?" Bumblebee shouted as he returned his attention to the roiling pit below him.

"Slagging ancient hard drive!" She grumbled back angrily as she whacked the console with the flat of her hand. "Quit lagging and get it together already!"

Bumblebee grinned behind his battle mask. "That well huh?"

Arcee scoffed and whacked the boxy console again. "I'm impressed it's even still running." She threw back. "The dang thing's even older than Ironhide."

Bumblebee bit out a laugh as he returned fire on a Vehicon that had noticed them sitting up here. "When this is over I'm telling him you said that." He told her once the Decepticon was sufficiently distracted by Topspin's knife in his chest.

The sound of an explosion suddenly reverberated up the main entrance tunnel of the temple, quickly followed by a wave of hot air that washed over the mechs still battling it out on the lower floor. Bumblebee leaned deeper behind his limited cover, shuttering his optics as the hot air rushed up to envelope him.

The roar of the moving air was quickly followed by the victorious roar of mechs from outside, only this time it wasn't the Wreckers making all the noise.

"Arcee!" Bumblebee yelled a warning.

"I know!" She shouted back, working harder at the ancient electronic brain of Simfur.

Simfur must have finally recognized one of the commands she had put in, because Bumblebee was nearly knocked backwards as the upper level he and Arcee were on suddenly began to shake.

No, he realized as he looked first up at the temple walls and then down at the main floor, it wasn't just the upper lever that was moving. It was the entire temple! All of Simfur was starting to twist as joints that were older than both moon bases put together began to shift and creak around the Cybertronians still fighting in the ziggurat.

For a nanoklik Bumblebee's optics were glued to the walls above him as they began to shift and fall into themselves as the temple itself began to transform, exposing him and Arcee to the open, smoke-clogged air that now hung thick around Tyger Pax.

It was something to behold alright. Never had Bumblebee seen anything this large or this old transform before. But despite the temple's age, nothing stalled. There were no dangerous sounding creaks as if the whole sequence might just break down at any moment. Instead the temple walls continued their controlled collapse as they folded down and then out as if forming a foundation of some kind.

Behind him, the presence of the AllSpark changed ever so slightly, as if it was dividing its attention now between the mechs fighting at its base and the sudden sense of space around it. In the back of his processor, Bumblebee realized that the AllSpark had been surrounded by Simfur's dark walls for eons. It must feel rather bare without them.

The yellow mech shook his head suddenly. What was with him? He'd been distracted ever since they'd gotten inside Simfur, and now he was thinking of the AllSpark like it was just another bot. And while he'd agree that the Cube was alive somehow, it wasn't capable of thought and feeling...was it?

Bumblebee shook his head again. _"Focus!" _He told himself. _"It may be the single most powerful thing on the planet, but it's not alive and it's not watching us. It's just-"_

Even if Bumblebee had had time, he never would have been able to finish that sentence. Things like the AllSpark never did fit nicely into simple sentences like ones that started with 'It's just'.

But Bumblebee didn't have time to finish his thought. Because Megatron chose that moment to join the battle.

Bumblebee wasn't sure when exactly the Decepticon leader had arrived since he'd been too busy avoiding explosion fallout and noting Simfur's transformation. But the he was there the next time Bumblebee managed to steal a glance at the temple floor, surrounded by the kind of destruction that would make future generations of Transformers shudder and look away whenever it was mentioned.

The roiling activity of a moment ago had disappeared, dead, along with the majority of the Decepticon ground troops and the Wreckers that had faced off against them. Frames of both Autobots and Decepticons were splayed out on the floor, optics dark, but Megatron hardly noticed them as he made his way to the middle of the room, not bothering to step over any of the extinguished forms that happened to be in his way. Not out of spite so much as the offhanded indifference he generally showed to objects and bots he thought unimportant.

Bumblebee thought Megatron's complete lack of anger somehow only made it worse when he stepped on the bodies of the fallen Autobots. They weren't even enemies to him now; just scrap metal under his boots.

Righthook finally couldn't take it anymore. He had known most of those mechs since they'd all been assigned to the military caste, back before the war had even started. And they might as well be scraplets the way Megatron looked at them. He threw himself forward, losing his processor, just for a moment.

And in that moment Megatron ended him. So quick that not even the Wreckers could have stopped it.

As Righthook's body fell to the ground to join the others, more Decepticons appeared through the main entrance. Bumblebee guessed it had taken them this long to make it through the suppressive fire he could still hear going on outside. It probably wouldn't be long now before Prime showed up with more Autobots, especially since Megatron was here.

The newly arrived Decepticons split into two groups, each one covering a half of the temple. The Wreckers, still stunned by their second-in-commands abrupt death, didn't have time to get their weapons up before one group of Vehicons surrounded them, keeping them there.

Megatron ignored them as he ignored everything else, processor temporarily caught up in the sight of the Cube, optics pinned to the only sacred relic of Cybertron; the last lingering echo of a time that most thought never had existed in the first place.

Finally, he came to a stop next to the Cube, close enough that he had to crane his neck back just to look at it.

"So this is the AllSpark." He said, the now quiet space amplifying his words as if he was on a stage, or back in the gladiatorial pits of Kaon making one of his now infamous speeches. "Under Sentinel Prime's rule it was sacrilege for a low-caste bot to even look at Simfur, let alone the AllSpark itself." He vented a harsh laugh, still eyeing the AllSpark in what Bumblebee thought was a mix of hunger and awe. "I imagine he's rolling over in his shallow grave right about now."

Bumblebee felt a cold feeling start to gnaw at his core. "Arcee?" He hissed over his shoulder.

Arcee was still working furiously at the ancient computer console. "I'm almost there. Just a little more time." She pressed.

But they'd suddenly run out of time. Bumblebee caught a flash of seething violet, just out of the corner of his optics.

Megatron's grin was sick. "How's this for sacrilege?" He asked the memory of Sentinel Prime as he raised the dark energon lens above his head.

A wave of terrified revulsion washed over Bee, and with a start he realized it was coming from the AllSpark. The feeling got stronger the closer the lens got to the Cube until it was strong enough to make the room swim before Bumblebee's optics. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when the Cube came in contact with the dark lens, but he knew instinctively it would be beyond terrible.

Beyond terrible didn't even begin to cover it. With an almost gentle _clink_ the dark energon lens touched the AllSpark.

And the whole world seemed to explode in Bumblebee's head.

He jerked back as something screamed straight into his central processor. A high-pitched, deep, agonizing sound like a star screaming before it collapsed in on itself and became a black hole.

The sound echoed around Bumblebee's head, shredding thought and tearing into his nervous system like a thrashing animal. Bee opened his optics, trying to get a good look at what was doing this to him, but the only thing he saw – the only thing he could see it felt like – was the lens and the AllSpark.

Veins of violet ink were growing out of the lens and into the AllSpark. They spread along the AllSpark's surface, filling in glyphs and sinking towards the Cube's core. As Bumblebee watched, the veins slunk farther along the ancient surface of the Cube, corrupting it just like all the dark cons had been corrupted.

The lens was poisoning the AllSpark, Bumblebee realized, twisting it into something else, something awful. If the violet veins got to the AllSpark's core, it wouldn't be a force of life anymore, Bee realized.

The largest vein sunk into a glyph that was larger than the others, and a crack suddenly opened up along the Cube's surface, tearing a row of glyphs completely in two.

The scream doubled in Bumblebee's head as another thought struck him between the optics.

Megatron was killing the AllSpark.

Bee suddenly couldn't take it anymore – the death, the endless screaming, any of it. He acted completely without thinking. He was in midair before he realized what he was doing and with a shout he didn't remember starting, Bumblebee crashed into the floor beneath him.

He landed in the shadow of the crying Cube, Megatron staring down at him in a rare show of surprise, the dark lens still pressed against the AllSpark's surface, pulsing, violet veins threading out of it.

For a long moment, the world seemed to hold its breath as everyone waited for someone else to break the silence.

One of the Vehicons finally got tired of waiting. There was a faint click as he raised his blaster towards Bumblebee-

And then abruptly dropped to the floor as a bullet slammed into his chest from above. The whole room suddenly seemed to wake up as the crack of the gun ricocheted around the stone walls of Simfur and suddenly everyone was moving again. Bumblebee took the chance to drive for the deeper cover of the AllSpark's shadow, glancing up as he did to catch a glimpse of Bluestreak before he ducked back behind the rim of the skylight to avoid the Decepticon's return fire.

For a split second Bee worried that Bluestreak was effectively pinned out of the fight, but the young gunner's shot must have snapped the Wreckers out of their stupor. And suddenly the Vehicons didn't have time to deal with either Bluestreak or Bumblebee as suddenly a whole mess of Wreckers found their fighting spirit again.

Bumblebee didn't stop moving as the sound of renewed weapons fire filled the room. Instead he ducked his head as he landed, hitting the floor with his shoulder as he rolled, found his feet briefly, and then threw himself headlong into Megatron's shin guards.

Autobot scout and Decepticon warlord were thrown to the floor, dark energon lens flying out of Megatron's hands and skidding to a stop against the base of one of the prongs holding up the AllSpark.

Megatron surged to his feet with a roar as Bumblebee was still scrabbling to find his balance. He didn't make it upright before Megatron grabbed him by the back of his neck and flung him back against the AllSpark.

Bumblebee hit the Cube hard enough to see brief, violent bursts of color against the underside of his optic shutters. What was strange, though, was that the colors were filled with ancient glyphs, like the kind that were carved into the AllSpark. Glyphs that were too old to read, but Bumblebee still thought were trying to tell him something anyway.

"You!"

The word cut through the colors still blinding Bumblebee's optics and the yellow mech tried to shake away the rest of his head trauma. His equilibrium gyros must have been damaged in that last impact because the room was spinning unnaturally. But even then he could still tell that Megatron was staring at him in a rare look of disbelief.

"You're that yellow youngling." He stated, staring at Bumblebee almost accusingly. "The one from the Space Bridge. I remember you."

Bumblebee snorted a laugh as he tried to right himself, but only ended up sliding down against the AllSpark, more strange glyphs trying to take over his vision the longer he touched the Cube. "Glad to know I make a lasting impression." He muttered.

Megatron frowned at him suspiciously, as if he was only now wondering if maybe this was just a hallucination brought on by the dark energon. "I shot you." He stated bluntly. "How are you still functioning?"

Bumblebee's equilibrium was stabilizing, but he fumbled against the AllSpark to try and keep Megatron from realizing that quite yet. "I dunno, maybe your aim's not all it's cracked up to be." He taunted. It was an old trick – keeping your enemy talking so that your partner could gain more time to do what needed to be done – but he hoped Megatron hadn't seen through it yet.

Megatron was done talking though and Bumblebee dodged to the side as the other's fist came flying towards his face. The yellow Autobot heard Megatron shout as he threw himself sideways before scrambling to his feet a little ways away. Bee grinned, realizing that Megatron had hit the AllSpark instead.

"AllSpark made of sterner stuff than you expected Megatron?" Bumblebee taunted, raising his own fists in anticipation of Megatron's next attack.

It wasn't long in coming. The Decepticon warlord growled low in his chest before flying towards Bumblebee.

The yellow Autobot ducked out of the first swing and caught the second on his vambrace before taking a swing of his own.

He tried not to look surprised when he managed to hit Megatron full in the face, sending the Decepticon sideways with the force of his blow.

But a sudden, searing pain in his right side wiped away his surprise. Megatron had let him punch him, Bee realized, so he wouldn't notice the jagged piece of shrapnel until it was already in his side.

One hand pressed tight over the new hole in his side, Bee tried to defend against Megatron's attack, but ended up with a handful of dents in his armor before a lucky swing made the Decepticon jump back.

He didn't try to reengage right away and Bumblebee took a quick look down at his side. The hole was ragged and leaking neon-green energon from where it started at the seam in his side plating and running down diagonally towards his front.

Not too bad, he decided with a flinch; not extremely good, but not bad either.

He looked up from his quick inspection to find Megatron scowling at him a few meters away. His now-violet optics burned bright against the dull gunmetal gray of his faceplates, but then his gaze flicked to something behind the Autobot.

At first Bumblebee thought he was eyeing the AllSpark, but just to be safe, he spared enough attention to check his sensors. Fortunately there wasn't anyone coming up from behind like he had feared. Instead he registered a small power source sitting at the base of the Cube.

The lens, he realized. Somehow in the mad scramble, he'd ended up standing between Megatron and the dark energon lens.

Bumblebee wasn't quite sure if that was a gift or a punishment yet.

Suddenly all of his joints felt stiff. Bumblebee looked back up to see Megatron was staring at him again, violet optics glowing so brightly that they threw the rest of his face into a sharp, shadowed relief.

"Get out of the way bug." Megatron growled, the mouth of his fusion cannon beginning to glow violet-white. "It's not like your death's going to stop me. I'll still get what I want and you'll just be an empty yellow shell."

Bumblebee scowled from behind his battle mask. "Big talk for someone who thought I was a hallucination." He pointed out.

He formed his cannon faster than Megatron could bring his to bear and fired off a pair of quick shots as he darted sideways, half hoping Megatron's own shot would hit the lens behind him.

And as if by some miracle, it _did_. Purple fire flared up behind Bumblebee, making him duck his head reflexively. But there was little heat to it even as it grew into a vile-looking blackish-purple cloud that surrounded the AllSpark and coated it in grime.

Bumblebee grimaced as the AllSpark shuddered at the indirect contact. He felt faintly nauseas and dizzy with the Cube's visceral reaction, but then again that could have been an early sign of energon loss.

Putting aside the strange new connection with the AllSpark, Bee trained his cannon on Megatron through the lingering smoke and fired. The first white ball of plasma fire only glanced across armor plating, but the second and third hit the Decepticon squarely in the side, driving him away from the lens and the Cube and forcing him to one knee.

But even then he hardly stopped. Megatron kept his fusion cannon level even as he sank to the floor. And before Bumblebee could dodge, he fired.

His aim was off by just an inch though and the blast flew past Bee's left side and hit the wall behind him with devastating effect. Bee kept moving, but the blast was too close for him to escape the fallout. The explosion of superheated rock at his back sent him flying forwards to land face first against the temple floor.

Audios ringing, he lay there groaning, trying to force himself to his feet with nothing but stubborn willpower.

It didn't work.

A pointed boot suddenly slammed into his side, sending him rolling across the floor. He stopped face up this time, the open sky above him spinning somewhat deliriously.

It didn't have time to stop spinning before that same soot covered boot landed with a painful crunch on his chest, pinning him in place.

The bright violet-white of a fusion cannon suddenly replaced the sight of the sky, its high-pitched whine ringing in Bumblebee's already abused audios.

"I won't miss this time bug." Megatron promised, fusion cannon bright enough that Bumblebee could hardly make out Megatron's sharply angled face behind it.

Bumblebee couldn't quite keep the touch of fear off of his face and was glad his battle mask kept Megatron from seeing it. Autobot or not – brave or not –he didn't _want_ to die.

HIs central processor must have taken a harder blow than he'd expected, because suddenly he wasn't in the temple anymore. He was back in the playroom where he and the others had spent most of their time as younglings. Seeker missiles were raining down on them thicker than an acid rain storm, making the Hall of Records and the younglings shake with ever blow.

But Jie Mei was there. She was itting with them as they all huddled together in the corner, they're only protection against the Decepticons trying to get them.

"It takes Ironhide five cycles to get across Iacon," Bumblebee remembered her explaining to them above the sound of the explosives detonating over their heads, "and he's the slowest grown-up out there. So if the Decepticons ever get in, and worst comes to worst and we can't get away from them, then I'll buy those last five cycles. I'll make sure the adults have enough time to save you guys."

Bumblebee remembered wondering what exactly she had meant by that. But as he was about to ask, another explosion went off closer than before and he snapped his mouth shut and whimpered instead.

It was years before he finally realized the answer. It wasn't some elaborate trick she had up her sleeve like younger him had thought. All she had to do was make sure the Decepticons were too busy killing her for those last five cycles so the adults would have time to rescue them.

And she'd do that just to save the seven of them. So how could Bumblebee do any less to save the one thing keeping Cybertron alive?

Inwardly Bumblebee steeled himself for the inevitable as the memory of the playroom and Aria faded away, leaving him in the temple once more. Five cycles. He just had to give Arcee five more cycles.

He retracted his battle mask, not seeing much point in it anymore. "Whatever junkie," he told Megatron with a brashness he didn't quite feel, "didn't anyone tell you? This is an intervention. You're self-destructive addictions don't just affect you, ya know."

Megatron leveled a flat stare at the yellow Autobot, unamused at the joke. "Humor is a last ditch defense, Autobot. Isn't that beneath you?"

"Technically I'm a mini-con." Bumblebee answered quickly. "There's not much that's beneath me."

Megatron was quickly tiring of this banter. "Are you looking to die Autobot?" He snapped.

"No, but I got the feeling you're looking to kill me." Bumblebee said before cocking his head to the side in mock thoughtfulness. "To be honest I'm surprised it's taking you this long. Is the fearsome Lord Megatron going soft?"

Megatron's faceplates twisted into an almost feral snarl. For a klik his optics were so bright it was like they were on fire. Bumblebee drew back slightly at the sight, suddenly feeling like he was a youngling again.

He shook it off. "Oh _there's_ the nightmare king I remember." He said with forced lightness. "You know you used to terrify me when I was a kid." He pointedly looked the Decepticon lord up and down. "Although now I can't remember _why_ exactly."

Megatron glowered at him, fusion cannon preparing to fire, but then abruptly his face cleared as if he suddenly understood something.

"Of course," he mumbled, mouth twisting into a dark grin, "the last defense. Buying time for Prime to come and save you again bug?" Megatron asked slyly.

Bumblebee didn't blink. "Nope."

Megatron didn't look confused. "Ah, then you _are_ looking to die. The glorious death of a martyred Autobot is that it? All for the sake of the AllSpark." His lip twisted again. "How very noble." He sneered.

"Well bug," Megatron went on before Bumblebee could say anything, "I don't like martyrs. Frankly they annoy me. The way they embrace death so that the cause can keep going." He grimaced. "It's downright...optimistic." He grumbled.

Bumblebee rolled his optics. "I can see how you would find that depressing." He muttered.

Megatron's smirk seemed ironic. "Yes, that's the attitude I'm talking about bug. That whole 'keeping your chin up come what may' thing." He shifted his fusion cannon so that Bumblebee was staring straight down the glowing barrel. "I hate it."

The voice in the back of Bumblebee's head hissed that now was probably a good time to shut up, but he just couldn't bring himself to listen to it.

"I'll add it to the list." He muttered instead.

Megatron just shook his head. "You just don't get it do you bug?"

_"Don't get what?"_ Bumblebee opened his mouth to ask, but all that escaped was a strained, "_Urk!_" as Megatron suddenly clamped a clawed hand tight around his throat.

The fear finally leaked into Bumblebee's optics as Megatron steadily tightened his grip on his neck. The building pressure making his own armor damage the conduits they were supposed to protect.

Bee squirmed despite the tunnel vision starting to limit his vision. He reached up and tried to pry Megatron's hand away, but he couldn't find any leverage against the Decepticon's blackened armor.

Megatron's grin grew a little wider as he watched the scout struggle, optics glowing brighter than the mouth of his cannon now. "There are worse things out there than dying."

Bumblebee hardly registered the words. He could hardly see now as his main energon line was cut off. In his building panic he didn't even realize that he'd reached out to Aria until he felt her sudden flutter of panic.

_"Bumblebee!" _She screamed so loud that he could have sworn she was just right next to him. _"Stop it! Leave him alone! Di di!" _She shrieked, and Bumblebee got the feeling she was trying to pry Megatron away with her sheer will power.

And somehow, despite the fact that his armor was buckling under Megatron's grip, despite the fact that he was nearly unconscious, Bumblebee couldn't help but think that that was just like Aria.

_"So stubborn."_ Bumblebee thought towards her, fully expecting it to be his very last one. He shuttered his optics, not wanting Megatron's face to be the last thing he saw. That would just be depressing.

He felt Aria go still along their bond as she realized what he was doing. He could almost see her face against the underside of his optic shutters looking small and white as she tried to think of something that could save him, and realized that there wasn't anything she could do.

He saw her start to shake her head, eyes wide and scared.

_"Don't leave me Bee." _She pleaded.

Bumblebee could hear her heart breaking as Megatron's grip tightened around his throat. _"It's going to be alright Jie Mei."_ He told her. And somewhere in the back of his processor, he thought it was kind of funny that in this last moment, he and Aria seemed to switched roles. He supposed that she had been looking after him for so long, now it felt normal to try and act like her.

But even as he thought it, Megatron's clawed digits finally punched through yellow armor, tearing into conduits and easily breaking through the casing that surrounded his vocorder. A few more kliks and he would reach the main energon line that ran from his pump to his central processor. And as soon as that was cut...

Well, Bumblebee thought, at least it would only take a handful of kliks for him to bleed out.

Time started to lag as Bumblebee waited for the scene to play out. He was remarkably calm for someone who knew he had perhaps a quarter cycle to live. Aria could feel that, but couldn't understand it as she urged Fastlane faster towards the city center. But they were still miles away.

They wouldn't make it, she realized. It was already too late. Her _Di di _was alive, but it was already too late. She was never going to see him again.

_ "What am I going to do without him?"_ Aria thought.

_ "It's not going to be the same without Jie Mei," _Bumblebee thought, _"even in the afterlife."_

Megatron, unaware of all of this, kept prying through the yellow scout's throat. He was so close. _So close. _And as soon as he extinguished this Autobot he could take the dark energon lens and finish what he'd started.

There was nothing left to stop him.

But then...

A shock strong enough to throw Megatron sideways suddenly shot through the temple, shaking dust down from the ceiling that had been there during the time of the Thirteen. Ever every bot still inside was bodily thrown to the floor.

Bumblebee screamed as Megatron was wrenched away from him by the sudden force. Or at least, he would have screamed if his vocorder had still been where it was supposed to be.

Megatron shook himself and stumbled back to his feet as the initial tremor faded only to be followed by the rumblings of smaller, more persistent, ones. He flicked an annoyed glance at the black box surrounded by internal conduits now in his hand, bright green energon and blackish internal lubricants dripping down the wires before splattering down to the still quaking floor. With a contemptuous huff, he flung the mechanical gore from his hand.

Bumblebee's optics were flickering somewhat erratically as static cut through his vision, but he could still see well enough to make out his voice box shatter when it hit the stone floor.

He stared at the pieces where they were surrounded by the tangle of conduits and internal fluid. His processor still couldn't quite understand what had happened.

Tremors continued to shake the temple to its foundations, but Bee was in no position to notice. Megatron was staring up at the air above him as what looked like a comet soared upward towards the sky in a rush of red and white fire. It flew higher and higher, passing through an orange barrier that marked the outer edge of Cybertron's atmosphere before making its way out into empty space. In another twenty kliks, it was nothing but another distant star in the heavens. Another five and there was nothing but blackness left.

Megatron watched until the comet had winked out of sight in the sky. Then, slowly, he looked back down to the spot where the AllSpark had sat for millennia.

Only to find it empty.

Just as slowly, he turned back towards Bumblebee where he still lay on the floor. The yellow scout's mouth twitched in what would have been a smile if the lower half of his head hadn't felt like it was on fire. He'd never seen Megatron's optics so wide before. He looked like he was in shock.

A strange sort of numbness began to chase away the fire that was eating at what was left of his throat. _"Speaking of shock..." _Bumblebee distantly heard himself think.

A haze was starting to fog up his processor, so it took Bumblebee a moment to remember that Megatron was still there. He looked up and was surprised to see that Megatron had stepped closer when he hadn't been paying attention.

Even through the heavy static that was now playing havoc with his sight, Bumblebee could make out the furious look on the Decepticon's faceplates.

"You!" Megatron spat. "You did this!"

Bumblebee tried to say that that was impossible seeing as he'd been here getting his aft handed to him this whole time, but all that came out was the distressed whine of tortured machinery.

The fire sprang back up in Bumblebee's throat and head. He moaned and tried to roll out of the fire's way, but the motion just made the room spin and the static in his vision increased. He could hardly see anything now.

Megatron suddenly wrenched the yellow mech up by the front of his armor, sending renewed pain along Bumblebee's nerves.

"Where did you send it?!" Megatron demanded, shaking the almost-unconscious bot. "Where is the AllSpark now?!"

Bumblebee wouldn't have told him even if he still could have. As it was, a delirious kind of laugh crawled past the burning pain, but it only came out as a stream of hissing static.

Megatron's violet optics burned brighter with fury. "Where is it?!" He demanded, shaking Bumblebee just as two shots slammed into Megatron's back from behind. The extra, unexpected force rammed Bee's head into the stone wall behind him, making him see stars even past the static in his optics, but Megatron didn't even look winded.

Whoever was firing must have noticed that the shots weren't doing much, or maybe they were more afraid of getting Bee hurt again, because the blaster fire stopped and a sharp voice rang out instead.

"_HEY!" _A female voice cut through the temple. Bumblebee just barely realized its presence. "Put him down Megatron. _Now!"_

Bumblebee slowly shuttered and unshuttered his optics, hoping that would bring the blurry, pink form above them more into focus. It didn't. "You tell him Arcee," he tried to say, but all that came out was a wave of static that made the pain boil past the numbness that kept trying to creep up on him.

Megatron twisted around to see who was giving him orders. Bumblebee had enough self awareness left to see the large mech raise an optic ridge at the femme standing above and behind him, blaster aimed stubbornly at his head, although she didn't open fire yet.

The large Decepticon stared at her as if he recognized her, paying about as much attention to his smoking shoulder armor as he would an insect bite. "Ah yes, the femmeling." He said slowly, like he was only talking about the weather. "I wondered if they would let you out of your tower for this. You know, out of all the Autobot younglings, I was always the most interested in meeting you."

Bumblebee didn't need to see Arcee to know she was glaring at him. "Yeah, I figured that from the twenty-odd half-aft kidnappings you kept throwing at Elita and the girls." She bit back bitterly.

Megatron threw back his head and laughed, violet light leaking out from beneath his optic shutters. Bumblebee didn't understand why. It wasn't really all that funny to him.

"You've got an edge to you femmeling." Megatron said through the end of his laughter. "Can't say I'm surprised. You were the loneliest out of the lot weren't you?" He went on. "No brothers like the rest of them. Just the two sisters and they're old enough to have forgotten what it's like to be as young as you. And then when they split you up..." He let the memory of loneliness hang in the air between them.

Maybe it was the delirium setting in, but Bumblebee thought he could feel Arcee's sudden sadness. Somehow that made him feel worse than before (and with the fire still gnawing at his throat and chest he hadn't thought that was possible) because he'd never really thought about how Arcee felt about being the only femmeling. That had just always been a part of who she was to them. The last femmeling out of the last seven younglings.

"You can feel the hole they left can't you?" Megatron was suddenly talking again. "The loss of all those other femmes. You've never known what it's like to be surrounded by them, but you still can feel where they should be."

Distantly Bumblebee wondered if that was true as he stared at the empty space over the fuzzed out form of Arcee's left shoulder guard. Was it him or was the world starting to expand...?

He shook his head and almost ended up sliding down the wall. Megatron's grip on his armor was the only thing that kept him upright as Arcee demanded hotly, "Why'd you do it? Why'd you kill them all?!"

Megatron shrugged one shoulder, making Bumblebee nauseas as the movement made the static in his optics waver like wriggling Jell-O. "You femmes don't belong in this war." Megatron said coolly, his voice sounding very far away now to Bumblebee's audios. "You don't have that same iron-bound sense of honor and duty. Not like mechs. For some reason that only our creators know, you femmes just weren't programmed with that warrior's spirit."

A memory of little Arcee pounding Skids, Mudflap, _and _Val into the playroom floor suddenly popped into Bee's head, making him want to laugh. That had been over her paint job too, he remembered.

But Megatron's voice was still reverberating around the scout's head, breaking up the memories of their time in the safe house/play room. "Instead," Megatron continued, "you have those annoying protective protocols that have something to do with younglings." He shrugged flippantly again.

Maybe it was the static, but it looked to Bee like Arcee was starting to shake with pent up fury. "So you murdered them." She hissed. "All the ones you could lay your hand on and then you burned the youngling sectors to the ground with the femmes and younglings still inside. _Those places were neutral ground."_ She shouted.

Right, Bumblebee's foggy processor thought slowly, the youngling sectors had always been neutral ground during war on Cybertron. Those with morals wouldn't dream of attacking the sparklings and younglings, and those without were practical enough to realize that killing off the next generation might just put them on the short path to extinction. There was no way of telling when sparks would come out of the Well of AllSparks or how many. It wasn't like it operated on a _schedule_ or anything.

But obviously Megatron hadn't seen it that way. Still didn't see it that way.

"This is war!" He snapped back. "There is no neutral ground. There is only my way and the way to the scrap yard!"

And then Arcee couldn't take it anymore. With a yell she fired at Megatron, running along the upper level to try and get a better shot at the weak point where armor plating met.

The shots slammed into the Decepticon – Bumblebee knew because he felt the force of impact travel up Megatron's armor to his own bright yellow armor – but Megatron didn't even stumble. There were dents in his armor, a smoking, blackened hole in his side, and he acted like he didn't even feel it.

_"Stupid...dark energon..."_ Bumblebee thought as his head bobbed unpleasantly in Megatron's grip.

Megatron never fired back either. He let Arcee run. He even let her reach the limited cover of the far corner. But as soon as she stopped – the gap in Megatron's armor plates lined up with her sights – Megatron tightened his grip on Bumblebee and _flung_ him bodily towards the small pink femme.

Right into the path of Arcee's incoming fire.

With all the pain already shooting through his limbs, Bumblebee hardly registered the two blaster shots as they hit his back. He _did_ notice though when he hit the floor and bounced once, nearly impaling himself on one of the prongs that had held up the AllSpark, before rolling off into the opposite corner of the temple.

He could feel his systems going into a forced shut down even before he came to a stop against the temple wall. Dimly, he heard Arcee shout his name, but he didn't have a way to answer back.

The numbness that had been trying to sneak up on him ever since Megatron had torn out his vocorder was quickly gaining ground now. And right on its tail was a rolling cloud of blackness that chased away the static dancing in front of his optics. It was almost a relief really, Bumblebee thought, if only because it finally put out the fire that had been eating at his frame, burning his throat and blistering his internals.

Finally, his emergency protocols won out over his persistent desire to stay online and he was bodily dropped into stasis.

And around Bumblebee's unconscious frame, the ancient walls of Simfur continued to quake and contort themselves into a form that had not been seen since a time when myths and legends had still walked the surface of Cybertron.


	30. Chapter 30: Tyger Pax's Final Hour

XD I can't believe this. I got it done! I wasn't at all sure yesterday if I'd be able to get this done in time. But I did! :3 **_AND IT'S CHAPTER_** _**30!**_

*high pitch squeaky voice* Yay me! :)

I'm not quite sure if you should _expect_ the next chapter in a week per say, but I'm sure gonna try hard to get it up there! *Determined face. Oh yeah!* So look out for it, but if it's not there, know that it just wasn't ready for you to see and that the finished version will be _much _better then whatever I may have at the time...

Thank you you guys that reviewed! Completely made my day whenever I saw review alerts in my inbox! :) I'm kinda eager to post this, so I'll try answering questions and such later. But know that I am beyond grateful for your reviews!

Now I hope you enjoy this next chapter. We got some more interesting point of views going on here, including some Decepticons that I realized I hadn't played with much. ;3 So please drop me a line at the end, but more importantly I hope you love it! :)

...

The Long Road Home

30 – Tyger Pax's Final Hour – 30

The contortion of Simfur did not go unnoticed.

Far out at the edges of the city the fighting was starting to wind down. Thanks in no small part to the two bots leading the Autobots still out there on the battlefield.

Ironhide stepped to the left to avoid taking a blast to the chest from an enemy null ray. He growled deep in his chest as he tried – _again_ – to bring his cannons to bear on his attacker, but the 'con just tumbled out of his line of sight before leap frogging up again and taking another handful of shots at the weapons specialist.

"Hold still ya menace!" Ironhide shouted at the smaller Decepticon, annoyed as all get out.

The dark blue mini-con just smirked at the bigger mech and laughed before spinning around in the opposite direction to try and come at Ironhide from behind.

Only to run into a feminine fist instead as Chromia punched the unsuspecting 'con in the face.

He flew backwards with a squeal that ended in a heavy _oof_ as he landed on the hard ground.

Ironhide quickly brought a large boot down on the mini-con's chest to keep him from wandering off again.

"I hate these pint-sized ones," Chromia said as she stepped over, shaking out her fist, "they remind me of that game Aria tried to get us to play. What's it called? Flatten-a-ferret?"

Ironhide shrugged one massive shoulder to show he didn't know or really care. He just kept his cannon trained on the Decepticon's much smaller head.

"Now then Rumble," he grumbled at the small 'con, "we gonna do this the hard way or the easy way?" He demanded more than asked.

The mini-con narrowed suspicious red optics at the black mech towering over him. "What's the hard way?" He asked in his squeaky voice.

"You try to get away and I shoot you."

The mini-con went still. "And the easy way?" He squeaked in a higher pitch.

"I just shoot you." Ironhide told him flatly.

The mini-con's engine sputtered in indignation. "That's hardly sporting!" He cried, starting to wriggle under Ironhide's foot.

Ironhide frowned down at the pinned 'con. "You tried to shoot me in the back!" He pointed out rather loudly. "How's that fer sporting?" He demanded. "Now what the heck does Megatron think he's doing going after the AllSpark?"

Rumble flinched back from the angry Autobot, optics flicking about behind his visor as he looked for a way out of this mess. "How am I supposed to know? Soundwave's the one that has to go to all those boring meetings with Megatron, not me!"

Ironhide's frown deepened as he leaned forward, making Rumble press himself closer to the dirt as the Autobot's large cannon drifted closer to him. "Yeah and you know everything Soundwave does, so spill!"

Rumble tried to scramble away from the glowing cannon mouth, but the only thing that changed were the amount of claw marks in the torn up ground on either side of him. But he didn't say anything else.

Chromia's hard edged laughter cut through the mechs. "Oh don't let him scare you sweetie," Chromia said with a too-sweet smile as she revved her own miniature fusion cannon, "I'm the one you should worry about."

"Whoa now! I don't knowing anything!" He shouted, optics pinned on the cannon mouth. "Soundwave keeps most of that stuff to himself and I don't ask!"

A snort showed how much Ironhide believed that. "Yeah right," he grumbled.

"But it's true!" Rumble insisted. "I know better than to stick my neck out like that. Besides it's usually all boring anyway."

Ironhide's frown deepened, but before he could so much as open his mouth to browbeat the casseticon, a shockwave tore through the ground under their feet strong enough to knock Ironhide and Chromia to the ground.

Rumble, already flattened as it was, rode out the unexpected wave with little damage. And while the two full sized bots were still on the ground, he scrambled to his feet and made a break for the cover of the city.

"Nice try Autosnots!" He shouted back over his shoulder before disappearing entirely into the abandoned network of buildings that marked Tyger Pax's city limits.

Ironhide groaned as he forced himself into a sitting position. "Primus slag that Rumble." He muttered darkly as he put one hand to his aching head. He'd hit it pretty good with that fall.

"This is why I don't like symbiotes." Chromia muttered as she hauled herself up nearby. "They're all brats."

Ironhide snorted his agreement. "Yeah, well," he rumbled as he looked up at the streaking form of the AllSpark flying high above their heads, "looks like Arcee and Bumblebee got the AllSpark out of the temple."

"Megatron's not going to be too happy about that." Chromia stated as she found her feet again.

Ironhide followed suit with a short groan. "Then we should get the city center," he said as he flexed stiff muscles, "they're gonna need all the help they can get against a fragged Megatron. Especially since Prime's still held up in the north sector." He looked up at buildings where Rumble had disappeared. "Maybe we'll even run into that slaggin' Rumble on the way there." He grumbled.

He stopped though when he caught sight of the look on Chromia's face. Her face was tense as she stared at something behind him, optics wider then he'd ever seen them.

"Chromia?" He asked, suddenly worried. "You alright?"

Chromia seemed to only half hear him. "Never mind that," she whispered, gesturing half-heartedly over his shoulder. "Look!"

Ironhide turned to look at what his sparkmate was pointing at. He felt his jaw go slack when he did.

"What," the words came out slow and soft in disbelief, "the heck...?"

...

Optimus was in the city proper when the explosion went off. A flash of fire followed the bass, booming sound, like the sky was splitting open, and even way out here he knew there was only one thing that it could be.

Despite the battle still raging around him, he found his optics being pulled towards the source of the sound. From the sudden lull in the noise around him, he wasn't the only one either.

Decrepit, leaning buildings blocked their direct line-of-sight of the explosion, however the dull orange-red of the fire it had left behind could still be seen in the reflections to their right. Necks craned backwards as above them, rising out of Cybertron's atmosphere even as they watched, what looked like a large comet streamed towards the pitch black safety of open space.

It was done, Optimus realized, the AllSpark was gone.

_"Out of Megatron's grasp," _he thought, _"and out of ours as well."_

The truth was there was no telling where the AllSpark had been sent, if it had been sent anywhere at all instead of just being shot blindly off into space.

And now here they were, fighting over a doomed and dying planet. The only way to save it lost among the stars.

Movement on the battlefield grabbed Optimus' attention. He tightened his grip on his blaster when he saw it was a Decepticon, but didn't fire. The mech wasn't raising his weapon. Instead he was staring at the Prime, face dark and angry.

"Blast you Prime!" The Decepticon suddenly shouted, his words echoing across the quiet crowd of mechs. "Blast you to the Pit and back! You've killed us all!"

Optimus jerked back, taken aback by the sudden outburst. He didn't argue with it, but somehow he still hadn't expected this from a Decepticon.

A few feet away, Jazz just scoffed at the red-optic mech. "Oh _please_," he retorted in his usual irreverent manner, "like ol' Megsie was doin' so much better. What did ya think he wanted the AllSpark for anyway? To hang it on his wall for decoration?"

"At least with Megatron we'd have that violet energon!" The Decepticon hollered, throwing an incriminating finger out at Jazz. "Now what've we got?" He spread his arms over his head as if to take in everything around them. "Nuthin'! Once this energon is gone, that's _it_. They're won't be anything _left_."

"There isn't anything left now." Prowl muttered darkly from Optimus' other side.

No one else but Prime heard him though, and Jazz just rolled his optics behind his visor. "At least with Megatron you'd all be stupid and crazy." He shot right back to the Decepticon.

An angry muttering was starting to grow from the battlefield as the Decepticons' began to fully process what the sudden loss of the AllSpark meant for them. The irritable words started to simmer and Jazz's arguing wasn't helping anything. Optimus shared a discreet look with Prowl. The fighting would restart before much longer.

Suddenly there was a great _BOOM!_ from behind them. Optimus and the others spun around, weapons coming up to take on the expected attackers.

But no one was there. The only thing behind them was a landscape of half-flattened buildings and the falling form of Simfur.

Optimus' face fell at the sight. The temple foundations must have been destroyed with the AllSpark's launch. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had realized that was a possibility, but it still made his spark sink to realize that he had just destroyed one of the oldest remaining structures on Cybertron.

Behind him the muttering had started up again after falling into a shocked silence at the sight of Simfur's destruction. Only-

Optimus' head came up when he realized that the crowd didn't sound angry anymore. Instead the shifting murmurs and intermittent gasps had taken on a fearful edge as they watched the temple fall off in the near distance.

Prime looked over his shoulder at the armies behind him only to see every single optic – red, blue, and violet – glued to the sight in front of them.

He turned back towards Simfur with a frown, expecting to see something along the lines of Megatron's newest super weapon or yet another one of Starscream's bids for power.

He saw neither. Instead he froze, optics going wide, as he realized that Simfur wasn't collapsing like he had first thought. It was _transforming_.

From Prowl's muttered, "By the AllSpark," and Jazz's loud, "It can't be!" Optimus thought they must have realized the same thing.

Simfur hadn't taken on any kind of recognizable shape before one of the Decepticons fumbled back into another bot with a loud clang. Optimus turned to see what was going on, still half expecting the fighting to just pick up where it had broken off. But the mech was too busy looking between him and the contorting form of Simfur to even raise his gun.

He pointed a shaking digit at Prime. "He's doing this!" He shouted in an unsteady voice. "He sent away the AllSpark so he must be doing this too!"

Optimus blinked in surprise at the idea, but no one seemed to notice his reaction. They thought he knew something about this? For mechs that despised him, the Decepticons sure had high expectations...

The horrified Decepticon was still backtracking, trying to put as much distance between him and Prime, his optics never leaving the twisting temple at the center of the city. "He's doing this!" He said again, looking around at his fellow Decepticons for some kind of support. "And I-I'm not staying around to find out what that thing does! I'm getting out of here!" He shouted before finally spinning around and taking off so fast that his alt-mode threw up streaks of dirt before his wheels could find any real purchase on the ground.

His fear was catching too. Other Decepticons were starting to back away, sending wary looks at the temple. Whoever had led them into battle here must have already been killed, because no one tried to stop them, and before long they were all retreating.

"Well," Jazz said as he watched them go, "that was surprisingly easy."

"Right," Prowl muttered as he gave Simfur his own uncertain look, "easy."

Optimus just watched the Decepticon's backs as they ran. To be honest he still wasn't quite sure what to think about this. If this wasn't one of Megatron's weapons, and it wasn't one of _his_, then what had triggered the temple's transformation...?

He hadn't figured it out before a familiar voice cut above the noise of mechs fleeing.

"Optimus!"

Optimus turned and caught sight of Elita's lighter colored armor through the dark purples and grays of the retreating Decepticons. The Decepticons hardly paid her any attention in their mad scramble to get away from the whatever-it-was behind them, even when she bodily shoved one aside when he wouldn't move out of her way.

She looked terrified.

That alone was enough to make Prime's anxiety level hitch another few levels. There was very little that could still frighten her at this point...

He closed the last few feet between them with quick strides. Most of the Decepticons were gone now, but Firestar and Moonracer still kept an optic out when they came to a stop behind their distracted leader.

Before Optimus could ask what was wrong, Elita threw a hand out towards the temple.

"Arcee and Bumblebee are still inside!"

...

Far over the ground-bound Autobots' heads, free from the claustrophobic clouds of dust and smoke that their fighting had kicked up, Starscream was better able to see what was happening to the walls of Simfur.

Better able to see it, but that didn't mean he could bring himself to believe it.

"Simfur is collapsing!" One of the rain bringers next to him shouted in dismay.

"The foundations must have been damaged when those slaggin' Autobots shot off the AllSpark." Thundercracker spat from the air commander's other side.

Starscream narrowed his sensor targets to get a better look at the temple falling far down beneath them. "Shut up!" He hissed at the others Seekers. Inwardly he wondered how such a panicky creature as a mere rain bringer had gotten put under his command. Probably Megatron was just taunting him. He was getting awfully brazen about his dislike for Starscream and the Seekers in general ever since he had taken that strange violet energon.

The head Seeker blew a particularly disdainful snort out his exhaust. How could Megatron have been so stupid to take that stuff in the first place? _Clearly_ his mental state had been questionable even before he'd gone violet.

The fact that Megatron was now easily ten times more powerful than Starscream had absolutely nothing to do with the Seeker's annoyance.

_"We'd be better off without him around." _Starscream thought as he fired at a group of Autobots down below him. He watched with keen sensors as they scrambled away from his null rays like glitch-mice from a cyber-cat, scurrying into their little bolt holes as Thundercracker and the antsy rain bringer laid down more suppressive fire.

Starscream ceased firing, leaving the other Seekers to do all the menial work such as Autobot clean up. Yes, they _would_ be better off without Megatron, wouldn't they? With Starscream leading the Decepticons, they couldn't possibly lose to those inferior Autobots. Not with their meager air presence and their annoying morals. And with Simfur already crumbling into rubble, it would be so simple for Megatron to just be crushed down there...

"Commander Starscream!" The rain bringer suddenly shouted, voice scraping even higher with renewed panic.

Starscream was just about to give his own demanding screech of, _"What?!"_ when he caught a brief glimpse of something coming at him from the corner of his optic.

His demand turned into an abrasive shout as he flung himself sideways to avoid the piece of temple that was flying up towards him.

_"Flying _up_?" _His central processor questioned as his engine revved with the Cybertronian equivalent of adrenaline.

He angled his wings and fell into a circular pattern around the collapsing temple to try and get a better look at it, Thundercracker and the screechy one falling into place behind him. There was definitely something here that was not quite right.

His comm. channel sudden clicked on with a burst of static as Thundercracker gave an exasperated sigh. ::What are we doing Starscream? The Autobots are the _other_ way.::

::Shut up!:: Starscream shot back, not taking his sensors off of Simfur. ::Look at it!::

There was a pause as Thundercracker did. ::It's a collapsing building. So what?:: He growled a klik later.

Starscream revved his engine in aggravation. ::Since when do buildings collapse upward you idiot?!::

There was another brief pause as Thundercracker looked back at Simfur, and then a muffled swear as he realized Starscream was right. After the first initial collapse towards the ground, the pieces of Simfur were reconfiguring themselves into a new, vertical, form.

"What the slag?!" Thundercracker shouted, forgetting about the comm. channel for the moment.

"Just what _is _that thing?!" The rain bringer screeched as a pair of legs, each about as half as tall as the temple had been, appeared out of the madly twisting mess.

Starscream glared at the figure that was only now beginning to take shape in the middle of the transformation. This wasn't something new, his analytic mind realized. Simfur had been around for ages. It _couldn't _be new. But that didn't tell him just how old this figure must be...

And then as old history lessons finally clicked into place, Starscream finally recognized not just what, but _who _they were looking at.

"Fall back!" The Seeker commander suddenly shrieked, kicking his engines into high gear for a quick escape. "It's an Autobot trap! _Fall back!_"

Thundercracker's question of, _"What?!"_ was cut off by the sudden scream of Starscream's engines as he bolted away, relaying the order to every other Decepticon Seeker in the sky.

Soon, a mass exodus began, leaving nothing but white contrail lines behind them as they drove hard for Decepticon air space.

...

"What the heck are they doing?"

Ultra Magnus had no answer as he watched the Decepticon air troops break off their attack and begin to fly away from the city through his binoculars. When it became clear that Starscream and his Seekers were not coming back, he switched his view to the temple. It was still moving, but now that he looked closer, it was no longer falling.

"Did everyone get out from the temple?" The Wrecker commander asked the scout next to him.

The younger mech's voice seemed to evade him for a nano-klik as his optics fell on the temple again. Ultra Magnus rumbled in annoyance, but the mech snapped out of it before he asked again.

"Uh, yessir. All of the Wrecker teams have reported in, along with three of the bots that went in with Bumblebee. He and Arcee are the only ones not accounted for."

Ultra Magnus frowned as he looked back at the various pieces of metal shifting on the face of Cybertron. He had advised Prime against sending in the young yellow Autobot to lead the Simfur team. He was too young, and this job had needed someone with more experience...

He shook his head gravely from side to side. There was no point in thinking on that at the moment. "Keep an optic out for them. Bumblebee is smart and Arcee is clever. They might find a way out yet."

The scout looked over the now deserted battlefield at Simfur. Obviously he wasn't as certain that anyone could find their way unharmed out of that and his doubt showed in his quiet, "Yes sir."

Ultra Magnus didn't give him a chance to sink into a proper state of doubt. "The Decepticons?" He asked in a stern voice.

The scout returned to the present quicker this time. "They fell back shortly after we did and are holding their position on the other side of what used to be the south-eastern plaza." He reported smartly. But then added in a more uncertain tone, "I, I don't think they know what's happening either. They're just sitting their staring at the temple like us."

Ultra Magnus didn't move. That didn't surprise him. Whatever this was, it was beyond Megatron's power.

"And Prime?" He finally asked.

"Here Ultra Magnus." A deep voice answered before the scout could.

Ultra Magnus turned to see Prime, Elita, and the majority of the Autobot officers coming up the hill behind him.

"What's happening here?" Elita asked quickly when she and the others had joined Ultra Magnus at his vantage point. "Have Arcee and Bumblebee checked in?"

Ultra Magnus shook his head. "No, but we're looking for them."

"What triggered this?" Prowl asked as Elita went back to scanning the area around Simfur for her youngest sister.

"I'm not sure." Ultra Magnus admitted with obvious annoyance at his lack of knowledge. "We had engaged the Decepticons down at the base of Simfur as planned. The fighting had degraded into more of a bar room brawl when suddenly the temple foundation cracked right down the middle. Then the top layers of the temple opened up to let the AllSpark out. But once it was gone, the whole temple started to come apart at the seams. I gave the order to fall back to safer ground. Apparently the Decepticons had the same idea. They're hunkered down a few miles to our left."

"But what _is _it?" Jazz asked as he eyed what had been a temple not twenty cycles ago. "A weapon? A base? Some kind of ancient self destruct protocol?"

Prowl shook his head. "Self destructs don't usually involve legs Jazz."

"Well I don't _know_." Jazz snapped in a rare show of frustration. "Maybe it's gonna stomp the city into oblivion!"

"Maybe the two of you should shut up for once." A gruff voice interrupted the impending argument before Prowl could get out a decent comeback.

Ultra Magnus turned to see Ironhide and Chromia behind them, both still smoking from their recent scraps with the Decepticons. He noticed though that the old mech was favoring his left leg and that Chromia sent a concerned look towards her sister. But Elita just shook her head a fraction, signaling she hadn't heard from Arcee either.

He was distracted suddenly by a tiny twitch on Prime's face. The Autobot leader hadn't said anything all this time. He'd just stood and watched the temple change as he'd listened to the others speak.

But Ultra Magnus had grown up with this mech, back before he'd become Prime. And from the look on his face, Ultra Magnus knew that he had just realized something big.

Ultra Magnus stepped to Optimus' side. "What is it?" He asked him quietly. "I know that look. What did you figure out?"

But Optimus couldn't find the words apparently. He just nodded towards the temple again, unable to speak.

Frowning, Ultra Magnus turned to look as well. Nothing had changed really. It was still the same mass of twisting joints that had appeared when he and the Wreckers had been taking on the 'cons at the main entrance-

Then he saw it. His optics went wide. His jaw dropped.

"Dear Primus..." he muttered.

...

Aria and Fastlane, practically on top of the transforming Simfur now, had the best view out of everyone in the city. They watched, slack jawed, battle temporarily forgotten as the temple shuddered and twisted in on itself in a seemingly chaotic transformation process.

"Sweet Primus..." Fastlane murmured, unable to say anything else as the transformation slowed and completed its final stages.

"Holy cow," Aria mumbled in agreement. And then, summing it better than anyone else so far, she muttered in completely disbelief, "it's a _bot!_"

And not just any bot.

...

In the middle of the dense cloud of smoke and dust, a figure finally took shape. A great, looming figure with a rounded, complex frame design that hadn't been seen on Cybertron for generations. He towered over Autobot and Decepticon alike, over buildings and battlefields, rubble and debris.

For a long set of quiet cycles, all fighting ceased. Mechs and femmes stared up at the mechanical behemoth, all wondering either one of two things.

How was this possible?

And whose side was he on?

The ancient mech stared down at them through a dome-shaped helmet with yellow colored plastic covering the front. Optics bigger than Aria was tall roved the scene in front of them, taking in data with sensors that hadn't been used for time too long to count. But then, eventually, the massive figure straightened up. And with the crashing mechanical sound of a thousand different parts moving in concert, he raised one massive leg and stepped out of the smoke.

"I," he said in a voice that sent already broken buildings tumbling down around his feet, "am Omega Supreme!"

Down below him, Cybertronians were staring, slack-jawed, up at the leviathan that had suddenly appeared in their midst like something out of a legend. Even Optimus Prime couldn't help but stare.

"By the AllSpark," he mumbled.

"It's not possible!" Megatron shouted, less kindly.

"Well scrap." Starscream and Jazz muttered.

Prowl just tried not to glitch.

Omega Supreme couldn't hear the different mumblings his presence had inspired. All he was aware of was the wind sweeping through his auditors, the sound so loud that it made the world around him appear mute.

He scanned the battlefield through his astronaut-like helmet. Then in a voice deep enough that it shook the bones in Aria's chest, he asked, "Where is Prime?"

...

Megatron grimaced as the tell-tale words left the behemoth's mouth. So it _was_ an Autobot, despite his white optics. He snorted. For once Starscream had been right.

A hesitant sound came from his left. "L-lord Megatron, w-we're not going to fight that..._thing_," a low level Vehicon stuttered, "are we?"  
>Megatron rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to rip the weakling's spark from his chest. "Of course we are you scrap-for-brains Vehicon! What did you expect? We just <em>let <em>the Autobots take their new friend back to Iacon for energon treats and a weapons upgrade?!"

He could practically feel the Vehicon flinch away from him. "N-n-no sir. Of course not sir." He stammered in his haste to get the words out. "It's just-"

Megatron snapped his head around and pinned the unfortunate Decepticon with a narrow stare. "It's just...what?" He asked coolly, daring the Vehicon to finish that sentence.

The Vehicon – designated Cleat because of the short spikes that covered his shoulder guards and the bottom of his boots – was either braver than Megatron had first thought or so stupid with fear he couldn't help himself. "It's just that," he started again, voice still quivering like jelly, "Commander Starscream has already pulled back the Seeker trines and more than half of our ground troops have already...retreated. Add in our earlier losses as well and we have maybe a quarter of the original number of troops brought in from Kaon."

Megatron suddenly turned around and bore down on the lower Decepticon. "I don't care if there's only ten of you weak sparks left on the whole of Cybertron! We go after Prime until either his spark is extinguished or ours are!"

Cleat didn't dare move. Megatron's face was so close to his that he could see the more normal veins of red color twisting through the unnatural violet of his lord's optics. For a long moment he watched as the madness overran his leader. The Vehicon was sure Megatron was going to rip out his own spark for him to see before he offlined entirely, but before the Decepticon lord could, a stoic voice appeared next to them.

"Lord Megatron. Plan: unwise."

Cleat watched Megatron's optics flick to the side where Soundwave was standing before they turned back to him. The Decepticon remained very still as he waited for Megatron to make up his mind to either kill him or let him go.

He came to a decision very suddenly and before Cleat knew what hit him, he landed with a thud on the ground. His pump was pounding in his chest and he had dents around his collar where Megatron had grabbed him, but he was still very much online.

The shaking Cleat lost some time after that while he tried to remember how to run simple systems like his cooling fans, but he vaguely heard Megatron talking above him and Soundwave...it seemed the Decepticon was returning to his usual silent self.

"You're right Soundwave." Megatron said, sounding neither particularly pleased nor unhappy about this. "Perhaps it is unwise to make this place our last stand. Omega Supreme has been resting for the past millennia or more and our troops are..." he cast a strangely colored optic down at the still panting Vehicon and Cleat resisted the urge to somehow burrow into the ground, "weary." Megatron finished.

The Decepticon lord looked over at Soundwave again, leaving Cleat to gasp and go lax against the dirt. It was orbits like these that made him think maybe being a neutral wasn't so bad...

He unshuttered his optics just in time to see Megatron staring rather oddly at his hand as he slowly flexed it open and shut. "This new energon is trying to mess with my processor by adjusting my thoughts to suit it's plans rather than mine." He muttered thoughtfully to Soundwave. "What it doesn't realize yet is that I am not so easily swayed. I control _it_." He hissed. "Not the other way around."

Cleat tried not to stare at his leader. Did he even _hear_ what he was saying? Sure dark energon was powerful, but it wasn't _alive_. It was energon for spark's sake! And here their "Superior Lord" was talking like it was a traitorous little Starscream that had taken up residence in his head...

Afraid that Megatron had somehow heard his thoughts, Cleat suddenly held his breath, make the slight hum of his cooling fans disappear. He didn't even quite realize he was doing it until his frame started to overheat.

Feeling ridiculous, he let go of the stale air with a soft whoosh before dragging in a new one.

And then nearly jumped out of his shell as Megatron barked, "Decepticons! Return to Kaon immediately!" into his comm. unit.

Cleat resisted the urge to swear as his unstable lord as he dragged himself to his knees. He levered himself to his feet and threw a quick glance at Soundwave. If the navy blue mech was anxious about his lord's sudden mood swings and apparent insanity, it didn't show past his battle mask and level optics.

Aware of what the Vehicon thought, but putting little stock in the opinion of someone as low and cowardly as Cleat, Megatron spared a last look around the flattened white buildings and the fields of dead mechs spreading out before him. "There's nothing left that's worth fighting over here anyway." He announced as he turned away to abandon the deserted battlefield behind him. " Tyger Pax is already dead."

Looking around at the shelled out remains of what had once been a beautiful, bustling city, Cleat knew he was right.

...

On the hill that had once overlooked the Temple of the AllSpark, nobody moved. Everyone was still in shock at the sight of this ancient being come to life right before their optics.

Still standing in the sunken ground where he had sat for ages as a ziggurat, Omega Supreme waited in weighty silence for his Prime to appear. His internal processor was still calculating just how much time had passed since he'd been put into his specialized form of stasis to protect the AllSpark, but looking around he knew it had been too long to easily count.

When no one stepped forward to claim the title of Prime, he spoke again, easily falling back into simple speech pattern he'd learned as a Guardian. "Prime's location: requested."

On the hill, Optimus finally realized that Omega Supreme meant him. Slowly, as if he was uncertain if his legs still functioned, he stepped forward. Caught by the movement, Omega Supreme's large head slowly turned in his direction.

Carefully, aware of any life form that might still be underfoot, Omega Supreme lifted one large foot and took a step forward.

That one single step nearly sent the Autobots to the ground in a jumble. As it was Prowl barely caught himself from slamming his nasal guard into Ultra Magnus' back, Jazz back flipped to avoid the embarrassment of falling flat on his tail pipe, and Ironhide managed to keep the two lighter femmes from being tossed off the hill altogether.

Prime braced himself as Omega Supreme took another large step forward. Then with one more step that seemed to shake the entire city, the gargantuan mech was standing right in front of them.

The Autobots craned their necks back as far as they could, but even then they couldn't make out Omega Supreme's face.

With a hiss of hydraulics loud enough to make Optimus' audios ring, the large orange and red mech slowly and carefully lowered himself to one knee joint.

Now kneeling in front of them, the group of Autobots could clearly make out the super sized face of the temple guardian. His face was broader than three Optimuses standing side by side with their arms outstretched. And even this close, Prime couldn't tell if his optics were orange or if that was simply the colored tint to the plastic that sealed off his helmet.

And when he spoke, the sound waves threatened to send even sturdy bots like Ironhide and Ultra Magnus rolling down the hill.

"Designation: requested." Omega Supreme intoned.

For a moment the strange speech pattern threw Optimus for a loop. But after a nano-klik – and a whispered, "I think he means _you_ Boss-bot," from Jazz – understanding dawned.

Optimus drew himself up a little straighter. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots." He told Omega Supreme in a loud voice, not knowing how sensitive the larger bot's audio systems were. "Who are you?"

The mech shuttered and unshuttered his optics before answering. Farther back, Elita marveled that his optics were so large that she could _hear _the soft scrap of his metal optic shutters against his glass optics.

"Designation: Omega Supreme." Omega Supreme said again. "Occupation: Guardian of the AllSpark and Defender of the Primes."

Optimus nodded old stories from the Hall of Records coming back from the depths of his processor. "You were created by Solus Prime to protect Cybertron from..." he lost his words for a moment. There was so much that the stories said Omega Supreme was supposed to protect that he wasn't sure which one could possibly be true.

There was a monstrous noise of metal expanding as Omega tilted his head. "Sentence ending: Everything."

Optimus managed to nod through his state of complete and total awe.

Behind him, Jazz wasn't nearly as speechless. "So where have you _been _these last hundred plus vorns big bot? In case you can't tell," he spread his arms wide to take in the scenery, "we're at war here! It's every mech on deck!"

In almost slow motion, Omega Supreme turned his optics towards the smaller mech. "Previous location: stationary. Purpose: Protect AllSpark."

Ironhide elbowed Jazz in the side. "Temples don't move smart-aft." He muttered to him.

Elita stepped forward, ignoring Jazz's comeback. "Is that why you haven't transformed until now? Because the AllSpark was still at Simfur?"

Omega's optics turned towards her with that same soft scraping noise as before. "Answer: Yes. Designation: requested."

It was Elita's turn to blink as she processed the strange sentence format into something more readily understanding. "My name is Elita-One. I am the commander of the Autobot femmes."

This time Omega's slow blink was somewhat inquisitive as he peered at Elita-One. "Elita-One: Prima Femme?" He asked without somehow breaking his prescribed grammar.

Elita startled slightly at the little used title. Given how greatly the mechs outnumbered them, the femmes had their own little community filled with their peculiar, and sometimes complicated, ties of sisterhood. Leading that small community generally was the oldest and wisest femme on the planet, sometimes called the Prima Femme.

It wasn't an official title like Prime or the Lord Protectorate, but it was grounded in the same ideas. And over the ages it had come to carry its own form of respect, from mechs and femmes alike.

Elita gave a small nod. "Yes." She told Omega Supreme. Even after all this time as the Prima Femme, she still felt uncomfortable saying that. By all rights Beta should be the Prima, as well as the femme commander; she had been the oldest femme even before the war and had fought against the Quintessons long ago. With Sentinel Prime gone, she was probably the only one still alive from that time.

But she had passed on the unofficial title after Alpha Trion had rebuilt Ariel into Elita-One, saying it was time for a new Prima.

In those rare moments when she had the luxury of letting her mind wander, Elita sometimes wondered if this was how Optimus had felt when the High Council had named him Prime.

"Omega Supreme," Optimus finally said, bringing Elita's attention back to the hundred foot mech kneeling in front of them, "do you know where the AllSpark was sent?"

The Autobots held their breath without realizing it as they turned anxious faces to Omega Supreme. If anyone knew where the AllSpark was now, it would be its Guardian right?

But Omega Supreme's already somber face fell. "Answer: Negative. AllSpark: Lost."

Optimus felt his spark fall in his chest. So that was it. It really was gone, never to return to Cybertron...

"Cube: Must be found. Cybertron: Dying. Decepticons: In control 80% of planet. Remaining energon reserves: Soon contaminated by dark energon."

"Thanks fer the update!" Ironhide finally snapped. "How bout tellin' us somethin' useful? Like how to stop Megatron and turn all the energon back to normal."

Omega Supreme said nothing.

Ironhide sneered. "Yeah that's what Ah thought! So unless you've got some fancy-schmany way of figurin' out where the AllSpark went, then do us all a favor and mute it!"

A slight crease appeared between Omega Supreme's optic ridges and Prowl thought Ironhide had finally gone and ticked off the one mech that could smash him flat with little to no effort. But the big mech's answer took them all by surprise.

"AllSpark tracking: possible."

Every head snapped towards the big bot. "What did you say?" Ultra Magnus demanded loudly.

Omega blinked at them as if to wonder at their obvious confusion. "Lack of homing system:" he said slowly as if to younglings, "Stupid."

A thousand questions popped into all their heads at once, but before they even had a chance at asking them, a strange metallic clanging sound appeared.

Cannons and blaster snapped up looking for a target. "What the heck was that?" Ironhide growled as he peered with narrow optics at the surrounding area. "You think one of Soundwave's dang cassettes is hoverin' about?"

"My sensors aren't picking up anything." Ultra Magnus told him as he searched the scenery around them with careful optics.

"They could be cloaked." Prowl pointed out, acid pellet gun trained on the most likely point of attack.

But Jazz shook his head. "Nah, I know cloaked bots. They learn how to not bang into stuff." He said, optics automatically roving the more unexpected hiding places as he thought about what _he _would do if he was a Decepticon in this position.

"Shut up!" Chromia hissed, miniature cannons glowing electric blue in the semi-dark. "There it is again!"

Elita, her own gun locked and loaded, tilted her head and listened to the strange sound. It wasn't a clanging, she realized, it was a banging. Like someone was stuck in a locked room and wanted out.

The banging was suddenly over shadowed by an incredibly loud rush of air as Omega vented a sigh.

"Embarrassment: Imminent." He muttered. But with his size even a mutter threatened to deafen them all.

Ironhide frowned up at him. "What's that mean?"

The banging reappeared again, only this time a muffled voice followed it.

"Hey!" The almost familiar voice shouted. _"Hey!_ Let me out of here you giant tin can!"

Elita suddenly blinked in recognition. She turned to find Chromia staring at her with wide incredulous optics. "No..." the blue and silver femme said in disbelief.

"It is," Elita confirmed, relieve sinking into her heavy spark. "Arcee!" She shouted. "Arcee where are you?"

The banging stopped. For a moment no sound followed it. But then, hesitantly...

"Elita? Lita is that you?!" _Bang!_ "Get this transforming behemoth to let me the frack _out of here!"_

Jazz suddenly laughed as he realized where Arcee was. "Femmeling, are you inside the big bot here?" He asked.

Again the silence from Arcee, but it didn't last nearly as long before she shrieked. "I'm in the _what?!"_

Elita was still looking Omega Supreme up and down trying to pinpoint where ARcee was. There were only a limited amount of places she could be without being entangled in critical systems, but with a bot so _big_ it would still be a lot of Omega to search...

Fortunately Omega Supreme had already figured it out. He was reaching up a massive hand towards his chest armor, just under his shoulder. Elita couldn't tell with the orange tinted face plate, but she thought he was turning red under his helmet.

"Femmeling: Located. Stop banging on Omega Supreme: Requested urgently."

Jazz gave the mech an incredulous look. "You didn't even _notice_ she were still in there?!" He asked rather loudly.

Omega Supreme determinedly didn't meet their optics as he lifted a hand to his chest plate. "Apologies: Insisted. Visitors to temple: Common. Omega Supreme: Used to it."

Ironhide looked a little unsettled. "_Used_ to it?" He asked. "How the heck do you get _used_ to it?"

"We got used to Aria riding in our alt-modes." Prowl pointed out.

But Ironhide didn't look any less green. "Yeah, but she's not walking all around in there."

Most any other orbit, Chromia would have told her sparkmate to stop making such a big deal out of nothing. But since it was her sister stuck inside Omega...

Omega Supreme opened the panel on his chest to reveal a harried looking Arcee standing there. Elita and Chromia reached up and each took an arm to help their youngest sister down.

"I'm okay," she kept saying when her feet finally touched real ground, "I'm okay."

The older sisters shared a look over Arcee's head. She wasn't injured, but she was clearly rattled after being trapped in Omega Supreme.

"Sure," Chromia said, "if 'okay' means 'I was just stuck inside an ancient mech I thought was a building' then yeah, you're perfectly okay.

Arcee slid Chromia a faintly sarcastic look. "At least I wasn't crushed." She muttered. Behind the three femmes, Ironhide laughed. Although a sharp look from Chromia put an end to that.

Optimus was far less jovial as he stepped closer to the femmes. "Arcee," he asked somberly, "where's Bumblebee?"

But Arcee shook her head, optics wider than usual as she turned to stare at the ground. "I-I don't know. I lost track of him when we got swept up in that transformation." Her head snapped up with sudden urgency. "But we've got to find him! He was in bad shape last time I saw him. Megatron-"

She was cut off by a ground shaking, "Prime."

Optimus looked back at Omega Supreme. "Missing mech: Located."

Optimus stepped forward as Omega opened a different armor panel along his stomach and reached a careful hand into the space between his armor and the more sensitive internal sections of his frame. Optimus was only dimly aware of the fact that Arcee had come up behind him, Elita and Chromia close behind. It was hard to notice them though, when it felt like his spark was being swamped with a terrible sense of foreboding.

Slowly, Omega Supreme withdrew his hand. Between the massive digits, Optimus could just make patches of yellow, but they were covered in the blackened signs of weapons discharge and the bright green smears of congealing energon.

Careful not to cause any further damage to the limp frame he carried, Omega Supreme opened his hand for Optimus and the others to see. Someone gasped at the sight of Bumblebee's condition, but Optimus was too far gone to tell who.

"Oh no..." he mumbled.


	31. Chapter 31: The Price of War

XD Yay! I made it! Whew! This chapter was making me go in circles for a little while. But I managed to straighten it out! :D Hooray! Finally! And I'm sorry that i didn't get this up yesterday. I actually had it all finished and everything, but as soon as I left the McDonalds I was writing at, I felt really sick...and I didn't even eat anything there...o.O Anyway, I'm calling yesterday a sick day.

**_THANK YOU MY LOVELY__ REVIEWERS!_ **Autobot-Bre, Flarefox, PepperCornPie, KaylessChiara, Lunar Mist, Ishgirl, Mercedes Wolfcry (yours made me especially happy which I found amazing given it's only two words xD) Xireana Zetsubou, and Bee4ever are all _AMAZING! _I loved reading all your glorious sobbing! Wait! I mean-erm-your glorious, uh, commenting! n_n; Right that...

And I'm so glad that you guys loved Omega Supreme! X3 I was talking with the guy who owns my favorite boba tea shop and it turns out Omega Supreme was one of his favorite characters when he was a kid. I hadn't really thought of having Omega in my story before, but I'm so glad he gave me the idea! Because it made my brain explode with its perfectness! ;3

And now I'm putting up the warning of sadness sign. Because if I haven't made you feel at least a _teeny tiny _bit sad by the end of this chapter...well then I've done something seriously wrong. n_n; I hope you love it!

...

The Long Road Home

31 – The Price of War – 31

The med bay was filled to capacity with injured Autobots with more coming in every nano-klik. Bots that could still stand were busy finding space for the critically wounded in the medical bay itself and sending those that weren't about to bleed out in the next five kliks to wait in the long hall outside. The space was loud with the chaotic mix of screams of pain and shouted orders as everyone did what they could to keep the number of fatalities down.

Ratchet ignored them all as he ran through the chaos, stretcher right beside him and Perceptor and Grapple coming up behind just as fast. The mechs and femmes around them deftly stepped out of his way as he cut across the room towards the surgery.

It was so loud that Ratchet's own snapped out orders were almost buried in the mayhem. "Percy, get the IV going and prepare for a transfusion. Grapple, get that bleeding stopped."

"And just what do you think I'm doing back here?!" Grapple snapped back as Perceptor darted away from the stretcher to grab an IV kit and the necessary medical energon they would need to keep Bumblebee from offlining. "Knitting mesh?!"

Ratchet didn't answer as he threw his shoulder against the swinging door that separated the operating room from the madhouse they had just run through. They backpedaled slightly as they quickly decelerated and brought the moving bed alongside the operating table.

"Lift on three." Ratchet said as he got a good grip under Bumblebee's shoulders. "One, two, three, _lift._"

The two mechs lifted the unconscious scout up and over to the waiting table before smoothly putting him back down. As soon as he was down, Ratchet shoved the stretcher out of the way.

It hit the far wall with a crash just as Perceptor burst through the doors with a bang, tray full of tools in hand.

Ratchet grabbed the small saw out of the tray as the red mech ran past him to Bumblebee's other side. He turned on the handheld device and began cutting away the ruined armor around Bumblebee's neck as Perceptor strung up the bag of florescent pink medical grade energon and Grapple started work on Bumblebee's side wound.

Ratchet tore away the last piece of ruined armor and cursed when he saw the full damage to Bumblebee's neck. "His main energon line is still intact but almost everything else is shot. His coolant line is nicked and his fans are about to stall without it. His vocorder is gone-"

Grapple and Perceptor spared shocked glances before looking back at their work. "What do you mean _gone_?" Grapple asked loudly as he pulled out the bits of shrapnel that had broken off in Bumblebee's side.

"I mean it's not there anymore!" Ratchet shouted as he quickly began tying off the numerous smaller fuel, coolant, and lubricant lines that had run to and from Bumblebee's speech box. There were so many of them that if they bled anymore it would be just as bad as if his main fuel line _had_ been cut. "What do you think I meant?! Perceptor! Get that transfusion going _now_."

Perceptor didn't answer that he was almost done, just worked faster at getting the syringe in the younger Autobot's system. But Bumblebee had already lost so much energon and his pulse was so weak that Perceptor couldn't find the proper fuel line.

"_Perceptor!"_ Ratchet shouted again. Slag, where was Wheeljack when you needed him? Faulty med caste or not, he could still find a simple fuel line.

Ratchet stubbornly slammed that thought out of his head again. He had heard Wheeljack's first call for medical aid for Springer, but he'd been too busy welding up a crack in Twin Twist's spark casing to answer the call. And then by the time he was done...

But now was not the time to think about that. Not with Bumblebee edging closer to the Well of AllSparks by the nano-klik. So he stopped that train of thought and focused on the young Autobot in front of him.

"I've got it!" Percy called as he finally found the proper line and slid the needle in.

Ratchet grunted as he cleaned away the internal fluids congealing around Bumblebee's open wound and got busy restoring coolant flow. As soon as that was done Bee wouldn't be in danger of overheating and melting in his own armor, than they would need to deal with the gaping hole left behind where his vocorder had used to be...

"How's the rest of the bleeding Grapple?" He asked, not sure how he was going to tell Bee what the loss of his vocorder meant.

Grapple didn't look up as he answered, "Manageable. His armor took most of the damage."

Ratchet nodded. "Good." He jerked his chin as Perceptor as he clamped off another severed fuel line. "We need to switch out these conduits. Grab the spares from the drawer behind you Jack."

"Percy." Perceptor corrected as he did as he was told.

"Whatever." Ratchet grunted. He accepted the conduits with one hand as he transformed the other into a precision cutter and began removing the ruined segments. He was too busy to notice the concerned look his two assistants exchanged.

"I'm sure Wheeljack will be fine Ratchet." Perceptor said as he fed more medical-pink energon into Bumblebee's IV and checked the transfusion machine as it cycled out sickly yellowish energon and replaced it with fresh green energon.

Grapple snorted a tense laugh. "I wouldn't be surprised if he blew up the Decepticons foolish enough to take him and is sitting dazed somewhere from the fumes."

Ratchet didn't answer them, just clipped another unraveling coolant line.

"It doesn't matter right now." He finally told them. "Now stop chatting and focus on stabilizing Bumblebee's spark. It's starting to flicker."

Perceptor and Grapple shared another look. It had been flickering ever since they'd gotten the small Autobot in here, but the flickers had gotten far less spastic as soon as they had gotten the fresh energon into his tortured system.

But they didn't bother to point that out as they turned back to the unconscious scout on the table.

...

"Get out of the way! Let me through! _Let me through!"_

Aria ran as fast as she could through the Hall of Records, ignoring the startled looks of the bots overhead as they quickly got out of her way. She was going so fast that most of them were afraid she would run into them and hurt herself. Even the perpetually cross Gears slapped open a door so she wouldn't run face first into it.

The little human didn't notice Gears' strange behavior as she ran through the door, only pausing just long enough to get her bearings. Her brain finally caught up with her body and she realized she was in the hallway-turned-waiting-room that was just outside the medical bay. Mechs and femmes that had been more lightly damaged in the battle were camped out in the hall, waiting for one of the medics to find enough time to see to them.

The medical wing itself was sealed off. If she'd been able to think straight, Aria would have realized it was because the bots that had taken the most damage were already inside, clinging to life as Ratchet and his team did everything they could to get them stable.

But she couldn't think straight. And with the swarm of feeling from her spark-heart constricting her chest hard enough to make her lungs hurt, Aria was hardly thinking at all. She felt like an exposed nerve, raw and cracked by everything that had happened.

Hardly even seeing the mechs and femmes clustered around the long room, Aria threw herself forward, her foggy brain telling her that the source of all this pain was on the other side of the door. And she had to reach that source. She _had _to, her brain told her. _Had to. _

She reached the door, unaware of the worried, anxious looks others were giving her. She waited a bare second to let it open, but it didn't budge.

She slapped it with her open hand, and when that didn't work she hit it harder. The world was all fuzzy around her, but she was dimly aware that she was yelling something at it. Or maybe it was a lot of somethings. She couldn't tell. Her spark was aching so bad that the only thing she could still focus on was her sense of Bumblebee somewhere in the med bay beyond the door. He wasn't that far away, but he felt so weak, and he didn't answer when she tried reaching out along their bond...

It was a lot worse outside of Aria's skewed perception. Nathanial was with Peg near the doors when Aria first came skidding in. He looked up when she rushed past him and he felt his heart squeeze tight in his chest. He had expected her to be upset by Bumblebee's condition. What he hadn't expected was the look of near manic panic that he saw on her face.

"Aria?" He asked carefully as she looked around to see where she was.

She didn't answer him. Didn't give any sign that she had even heard him. The only sound he heard her make was a ragged gasp when she saw the med bay doors before she took off across the room.

"Aria! Wait!" Nathanial called, worried about her reaction if she saw how badly Bumblebee was hurt. If she was already in this state without seeing his mangled frame, how would she react when she finally did?

Nat shared a quick look with Peg behind him. Even with her equine face and lack of human expressions, Peg looked concerned for her human friend.

_"Not good." _Peg whickered worriedly, tapping a hoof against the ground gently and then quickly taking pressure off of it when a needle of pain lanced up her injured side. Their fall through that last transwarp portal had not been kind. But then they weren't dead, so that was something.

Nathanial just nodded distractedly. He turned back towards Aria when a scream suddenly shattered the morose atmosphere of the room.

"Let me in!" He recognized Aria's voice past its hoarseness. "I've got to see him! _Let me in! _Ratchet for spark's sake-!"

She was beginning to trail off into unrecognizable babble as she pounded on the door, screaming outright when a nearby Moonracer tried to pull her away. Nathanial could barely make out real words past the high pitched wailing as he quickly limped forward, hop-skipping when his wounded leg threatened to slow him down.

He made it past the crowd just in time to see Aria squirm her way out of Moonracer's loose grip. The sea green femme looked up at him, optics wide and watery as Aria threw herself against the closed door again. But of course it wouldn't open, no matter how hard she banged her fists against it.

"Aria _please_," Moonracer begged, her strained voice showing how drained she was already, "you're going to hurt yourself."

"She's past hearing you Luna." Arcee mumbled next to her. A glance at her slumped shoulders and withdrawn optics told Nathanial that the pink femme wasn't all that far from that point too.

Moonracer looked at the bots around her, hands half held out as she silently asked for help.

None of the bots moved. They had all surpassed their limits as it was already. Tyger Pax and the sudden loss of the AllSpark had left them all feeling hopeless and drained. What was there left to fight for when the only thing that could save them was gone?

Nathanial pushed himself forward those last few feet with a grunt. He felt like he was stepping on needles every time he put his foot down, but given the fact that Peg had landed on it, he knew he was lucky that fall hadn't shattered the bone. But somehow that didn't make him feel a whole lot better.

He was so exhausted that he almost fell on Aria when he reached her. He wrapped his arms tight around her from behind, pinning her arms to keep her from wailing on the door anymore. She threw herself any which way she could, trying to break his grip and making a noise that was somewhere between crying and all out shrieking. Nathanial held on tight, determined to keep her from bloodying her hands on the door for nothing.

"Aria," he tried to get her attention, "Aria stop it! You're not helping anything!"

She wrenched to the side to try and throw him off, but after dealing with Peg for years keeping a hold on a human not even half her size was simple enough.

"-let go," Nathanial somehow made out past the sobbing, "You've got to! I need-I've got to-!" Another breathless sob. "I've got to see him!"

Nathanial answered her in an even voice despite how shaky he felt, hoping it would help her calm down. "You've got to let Ratchet work Aria." He told her. "He knows what he's doing. And if he thinks you shouldn't be in there, then you shouldn't distract him by banging on the door."

His reasoning somehow made it past Aria's emotionally bruised and battered brain. She gave one last half-hearted tug to try and free her arms, and then with a high pitch sort of whine, she just went slack, nearly dragging both her and Nat to the ground when Nathanial suddenly found himself supporting both of their weight on already abused legs.

Nathanial didn't let go yet, afraid she would get her second wind and start trying to break her hands against the closed door again. But he relaxed a little when she grabbed his arms a moment later, clinging to them like some kind of life raft instead of trying to throw him off.

Not sure what to do now that she wasn't trying to claw her way through the door, Nathanial looked up. He hadn't realized he had expected someone to come forward and take her until he saw that no one actually was. Moonracer was still kneeling close by, but she wasn't looking at them anymore. Arcee was in her chair, knees drawn up to her scratched and dented chest. Across from them, the usually cheerful Fireflight was slumped down against the wall, nursing a broken shoulder conduit and a damaged wing. Even Sunny and Sides were quiet, leaning against each other as they stared off into different directions at nothing.

Standing there in the rough center of the packed corridor, Nathanial finally realized that the only sound was coming from Aria as she cried.

He jumped when something soft and damp bumped into him from behind. He twisted his head around, unable to really turn with Aria's dead weight keeping him in place.

But it was only Peg. She must have come up when he'd been busy with Aria.

Peg nosed him again and whuffled deep in her narrow chest when Nathanial only stared at her. _"Give her to me." _She told him softly, very aware of the silence in the room. _"I'll stay with her."_

Nathanial somehow remembered to nod. As Peg slowly lowered herself to the ground under Moonracer's chair, Nathanial tightened his hold on Aria and struggled to turn them both around.

Aria must have had some slight self-awareness left, because when she saw Peg sitting there, she let go of Nat and let herself fall next to the other techno-organic. She buried her face in Peg's mane and wrapped her arms around her wiry neck just as the far door opened.

Nathanial was the only one in the room that looked up. His first thought was that it was Hound coming in from the main building, but as the mech entered the long room, Nat realized he was shorter than Hound and had a blocky orange visor that covered his optics.

Hoist looked around at the bots lining either side of the hallway, cataloguing injuries as he approached the doors that led to the actual med bay. Even on the other side of the room, Nathanial could hear the short mech murmuring to himself as he passed each damaged bot.

"Right now, damaged armor for Brawn, non-critical tearing on Inferno's left side, broken hologram generator for Trailbreaker – Keep that arm above your spark Huffer. There you go. – Now let's see, damaged armor, damaged armor, busted leg-" Hoist made a noise behind his face mask before reaching for his comm. "Grapple where are you? I need assistance with the injured."

Huffer roused from his stupor just enough to mutter, "Grapple's in with Ratch'."

For the first time since he'd come in, Hoist went stiff, like someone whose breath had caught in their throat. "Is he...helping Ratchet or...?" he let the question trail off, not wanting to say his fear aloud.

But Huffer shook his head just a little. "He's helping out with Bumblebee."

There was a split-second hesitation before Hoist hummed an anxious, "Ah."

Silence muffled the room again, even worse than a moment ago. Nathanial noticed that unlike everyone else who could only stare off into space, Hoist's optics were flicking nervously over the various faces in the room. He also noticed that when Hoist saw Aria curled up against Peg's side in a shivering ball, he didn't look away a nano-klik longer than the others.

"Ah," Hoist said again in a lower voice, "of course. Percy's in there too and since Whee-"

He managed to stop himself from finishing that sentence, but too late. Everyone already knew what he had been about to say.

Moonracer just curled up tighter in on herself at the reminder that Wheeljack – online or not – still hadn't been found.

Hoist began to rub his thumbs and forefingers together in small circles. "That just leaves me," he couldn't quite stop muttering to himself, "shorthanded, shorthanded, always shorthanded..." he trailed off, looking around the room again.

Nathanial felt a shock of surprise run through him when the orange visor suddenly landed on him.

"Nat!" Hoist said in obvious relief. "You're still here! Oh, what a relief. Here I thought you'd really gone and left us."

Nathanial's shoulders sank at the sudden reminder of his part in all this. Glancing around he saw he wasn't the only one. Sunny and Sides' glares were probably the worst, but fortunately no one said anything.

Hoist crossed the room and knelt in front of the human, relief coming off of him in almost visible waves. "And you? Are you still in one piece after that disarray?" Hoist asked, tilting his head this way and that as an orange ray of light came out and scanned Nathanial's small frame.

He tried not to dance in place as the light looked him up and down. "No, I'm, um, I'm fine Hoist. Just some bruises." He admitted in a low voice. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought he should have had more than that to worry about.

But Hoist obviously didn't agree. "Good good." He said quickly. "Then you can give me a hand patching up the rest of these bots. If you'll see to the bleeders, I'll see to the internal injuries. Work thorough, but fast. There are a lot of bots here." He said as he straightened up and scanned the nearest bot for any unseen damage to spark and central processor.

"Um, right." Nathanial mumbled, still unbalanced from the mech's obvious relief that he was alright. That and the fact that unlike the rest of the mechs and femmes in the room, the short mech wasn't about to let even the loss of the AllSpark stop him from seeing to what needed to be done.

A slight whine made Nathanial look over. Aria was still huddled against Peg's black body, but the inner turmoil from her spark must have finally gotten too much for her organic body to handle and she'd relapsed into sleep. Although he saw that even then tears were leaking down her face...

"Nathanial?"

Nathanial turned as quickly as his battered body would let him. He looked up to see Hoist watching him as he waited for Fireflight to stagger to his feet.

The short green and orange mech slowly nodded his head at Moonracer and her multiple cuts and bangs. "Now's not the time to lag about." He chided him gently. "Now come on. Lend us a hand, there's a good lad."

Nat looked away from Aria's small from and pulled in a deep breath. "Right," he mumbled, "of course."

As he limped forward and got to work, he thought it was the very least he could do if it meant he would get the chance to set things right.

...

The west reading room in the Hall of Records had hosted more than its fair share of officer meetings, but none of them had been as devastatingly quiet as this one.

There were seven bots standing around the room, each withdrawn into their own heads as they tried to make sense of what had just happened. Tyger Pax had been leveled. Nothing remained of Simfur – the only holy place on Cybertron – except for a large empty scar. And the AllSpark was just gone...

That was the one that really got them. The AllSpark had been around since before the beginning of Cybertron. Before the time of the Thirteen. It had seen Cybertron and its inhabitants through destruction, slavery, and the caste system that had started this whole present mess. No one had consciously thought it, but somewhere in the back of every processor everyone had thought that it would see them through this war as well.

Only it hadn't.

They didn't blame Prime for his decision, much as it rocked them. They all understood what would have happened if they had kept the AllSpark on the planet, especially after Arcee had told them how Megatron had tried to contaminate the Cube with the dark energon lens. But that still didn't tell them what they were supposed to do now.

Standing stiffly on the left side of the room next to the bookcase, Prowl finally came to a point where he either had to speak or risk glitching as the logic loop in his processor started to circle for the thousandth time. "Reports are still coming in," he said stoically into the silence of the room, "however numbers range widely from-"

"Man," Jazz interrupted him from the corner of the room near the door, "after the day we just had I do _not_ want to know the numbers."

Prowl blinked at the special ops bot, a rare feeling of irritation making him frown. "I fail to see how avoiding them will help anything." He said, voice perfectly level, but if anything it was a sign of how unnerved he felt.

Just as sore and tired after the battle, Jazz opened his mouth to retaliate when Chromia's quiet voice cut him off. "Not now you two."

Reluctantly, the two mechs fell silent. The spark-crushing silence rose its head again as everyone waited for someone else to try and kill it. Eventually, every optic began to slowly slide towards the end of the long table where their leader stood.

Optimus Prime hadn't said a word outside of orders and confirmations of the reports that were still coming in since they'd left the battlefield. And now not even those were needed. Ever since they had entered the reading room, he had stood in the same place, in the same position, not saying anything.

Off to the side, Ironhide shuffled in place. "Well Prime," he asked in his rough voice, "what do we do now?"

Prime just stood silently at the far end of the room, leaning heavily on the table with both hands, head hanging down. For a long cycle no one thought he would answer.

When he did, they kind of wished he hadn't.

"I don't know," he finally said.

Everyone's spark sank a little deeper at the bleak words. Not even Prime knew what to do.

Before the silent depression could properly suffocate all of them, the door opposite Prime's still form opened and Ratchet, still coated in soot, mud, and other mech's energon, stepped in.

He stopped just inside the door as the atmosphere struck him. Weary optics drifted to take in his presence, and then went back to staring at nothing in particular.

If Ratchet had been anybody else, he probably would have stood there, unsure if he should or if he should just turn around and leave. But Ratchet was made of stronger alloys then most, and the silence was nothing after the noise and chaos still going on down in the medical bay.

He huffed a loud breath of air through his cooling vents and briskly stomped forward, yanked out a chair, and eased himself into it with a groan. He'd been running and shouting around the med bay for joors and his old joints were screaming at him to either sit down or fall down.

The others ignored him as he let go of another slower vent of air and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "I left Hoist in charge, but the place is a mess so I've only got a few cycles before something goes wrong or Percy freaks out on him, so let's get this over with." He finally said, sitting up a little straighter and putting his hands on his knees. "We got off lucky this time. From what I've seen we've got more wounded than dead, probably because Omega Supreme showed up when he did. We've stabilized those we could, let go of those we couldn't, and we're working on patching up the ones that weren't about to offline on us earlier. I'll get exact numbers once I've seen to all of them."

"How is Omega Supreme?" Ultra Magnus asked from his position behind Prime near the window. In spite of everything, he still stood at a parade ground rest, hands clasped behind his back as he watched everyone else with reserved blue optics.

Ratchet made a rare noise of uncertainty. "From what I've been able to observe, he's in better shape than the rest of us. But his model is so old that I'm having a hard time running diagnostics. Perceptor says he'll expand the machine's database to include Omega's frame type, but I still need his help dealing with the injured, so he'll be awhile."

Ultra Magnus nodded sharply to show he understood.

Ratchet waited a moment to see if there was any more information they needed, but when they didn't he braced his hands on his legs so he could lever himself out of the chair.

"Right, if there's nothing else, I'm going to go keep Grapple from tearing Percy into annoying pieces so-"

"What about Bumblebee?" Elita quietly asked.

It was, of course, the question everyone else had been thinking of since Ratchet had appeared in the doorway, but no one else had had the nerve to voice it, afraid of the answer they'd get.

Ratchet froze half out of his chair, and then slowly sank back down again. "He's stable." He told them in a grave voice. "For now. If his spark stops flickering before tomorrow then he'll have the greatest chances of pulling through. But he's going to be out of the fight for some time."

"Okay," Chromia said coming off the wall she had been leaning against, "so it's not the best news, but nothing worse than we've been imagining since we saw the state the little guy was in."

Farther down the wall though, Jazz didn't look convinced as he looked at the yellow mechasurgeon over his visor. "So why do you look like you haven't given us the bad news yet Ratch'?"

For the first time in anyone's memory, Ratchet looked away. "Because," he said slowly as he glared hard at the top of the table, "Megatron completely shattered Bumblebee's vocorder. It's in so many pieces it's not even worth putting it back together now. And without it," he said in a lower voice, "he's never going to talk again."

A different kind of silence filled the room now, eerily similar to the kind that appears right after someone gets a slap full across the face.

"Well can't you do something?" Chromia demanded too loudly as she leaned her hands on the table to stare at Ratchet.

The ornery old medic didn't back down, just glared at the silver and blue femme. "Like what? Magically pull one out of the air?" He snapped back.

Elita quickly stepped forward and put a restraining hand on her sister's shoulder. "Is there anything that _can _be done?" She asked quietly but firmly. "If not a replacement then something else to," her optics flicked to the side as she tried to think of the right description, "fill the hole?"

Ratchet hissed as he rubbed at the back of his neck in thought. "There isn't anything that can take the place of a vocorder. And even if there was, we'd have to integrate it immediately to give his system the best chance of accepting it. Once the wound heals there won't be a way to connect anything into his speech systems." He shrugged one shoulder helplessly. "Maybe Wheeljack could have come up with something in time, but since he's not here..."

He didn't need to finish. Since he wasn't here, Bumblebee was going to be mute for the rest of his life.

Ratchet couldn't stand the idea and stubbornly plowed on. "The best I can do is a patch, but it won't hold up to regular speech. The most it would be able to handle is the occasional short sentence."

Everyone looked over at Optimus again. As Bumblebee's former guardian he had the authority to give Ratchet instructions when the young scout was unconscious or unable to answer for himself.

But still the mech wouldn't move. Just continued staring at the table with a lost expression.

Elita frowned at her mate, forehead creasing. Then a stubborn look that reminded everyone in the room that she was related to Chromia appeared in her optics as she turned back to Ratchet.

"Do it." She told him. "Or do whatever it is you can without letting your other duties slip through the cracks." She amended before turning sharply on her heel strut. "Chromia, tell Firestar and Lancer to get ready to leave the city. We need to make sure that the Decepticons aren't about to retaliate for the loss of the AllSpark. Ironhide and Jazz will continue looking for survivors in the Tyger Pax rubble. Magnus, I leave the city with you. Prowl, help him out."

Magnus nodded briskly at his feminine counterpart as she turned and strode from the room, Chromia hard at her side and Ironhide and Jazz not far behind them. Elita was right, Magnus thought as he threw another glance at Optimus, they'd have to worry about Prime later. Either he'd snap out of this on his own or they'd have to give him a friendly kick in the rear to help him out.

The Wrecker leader turned toward the withdrawn black and white still in the room. "Start listing off the reports Prowl-" he started to say.

An urgent beep invaded the now mostly empty room. Magnus checked his comm. automatically, but when he saw that the sound wasn't coming from him or Prowl, he turned towards the only mech still in the room besides Optimus.

But Ratchet was already on his feet and running for the door. "Alright, alright!" He was yelling at whoever was on the other end. "Just keep him online until I get there!" He barked through the channel before snapping it off and shooting Magnus, Prowl, and Optimus a worried look.

"Bumblebee's crashing." He barely had time to mumble, either at them or to himself Magnus wasn't sure, before disappearing down the hall at a run.

Magnus frowned, just a slight downward twitch at the edge of his mouth. Inwardly he hoped that the docbot would make it in time to help the young bot. So many of the young ones had been extinguished already, unable to handle the severity of war. Losing any more wouldn't just be a tragedy; it would put them farther along the short path to all out extinction.

But like always, Magnus thought as he turned back to Prowl, this was out of his hands.

"Give me the reports Prowl."

...

Nathanial had just finished dealing with the shrapnel in Smokescreen's back and shoulder when he noticed that Aria was awake.

He stopped in the middle of the hallway when he saw she was staring at him with dull eyes. There was energon dripping on the floor from his sleeve, but he didn't notice as he braced himself, expecting the accusations of, "This is all your fault!" to start now that she'd had a chance to recover from the immediate shock of Bumblebee's injuries.

But to his great surprise, she didn't say anything. Aria just went on staring at him, a kind of lifelessness in her blue eyes that made the hair on the back of Nathanial's neck start to rise.

He took an experimental step forward, but Aria didn't blink and she didn't look away from whatever it was she was seeing.

"Aria?" He tried calling gently. "Aria are-" he managed to stop himself from asking if she was alright, "are you feeling better now?"

Aria just stared into empty space.

Nathanial felt his forehead crease worriedly as he took a careful step forward. Somehow this was worse than her yelling.

"Aria?" He tried again. "Aria do you want someone to take you home? You'll feel better if you get some real sleep." He told her, still half expecting her to start cussing him out any second.

But Aria didn't stop staring. Just tilted her head so that she was facing his general direction. But it was like she didn't even know who he was. Her eyes were so very far away, almost like she was looking for something.

Properly worried now, Nathanial stepped closer and half bent over so that he was right in her line of sight. "Aria? Aria can you hear me?"

Nothing. Not even a twitch. She had to be looking right at him, Nathanial knew, but he also knew that she wasn't actually seeing him.

A crash from the far end of the hall made Nathanial look up just in time to see Ratchet run in. He was shouting something into his comm. line and he barely slowed as he came around the corner.

"I don't care what you're doing Perceptor! Just get that patch from Wheeljack's lab and get it up here before I decide to rebuild you into a _power tool!_"

Ratchet broke the connection before Percy could answer, but Nathanial wouldn't have heard anything else anyway. By then Ratchet was already at the med bay doors. He didn't wait for the doors to fully open, just charged through the gap when they began to slide apart, clipping the door with his shoulder when they didn't open fast enough for him.

Nathanial looked back down at Aria staring listlessly into space.

Peg, still lying behind the human girl, gently nudged Aria's shoulder. She nickered worriedly when Aria didn't try and push her away.

_"She's all cold."_ Peg told him, rumbling anxiously in her chest.

Nathanial swore as things began to make sense. "Bumblebee must be getting worse again." He said tightly as he closed the distance between him and Aria and knelt down in front of her. "Aria?" He tried louder than before. "Aria you need to wake up now."

She didn't respond.

"Aria!" He said, louder now. "Aria come on! You've got to wake up!"

His sudden shouting managed to rouse Arcee out of her own morose staring. Her wounds had been sterilized and sealed up some time ago, but she hadn't moved from her spot by the med bay doors. "What is it?" She asked, her voice flat.

Nathanial threw her a quick glance over his shoulder, teeth clamped tight enough that he heard them creaking in his head. "She's heart-sick." He told her grimly.

Arcee's optic ridges creased together in confusion. "What's that?"

Nathanial shook his head to try and focus. "It's uh," he stammered trying to think of what Wheeljack had called it, "spark-shock. Aria's going into spark-shock!" He spit the words out.

The news made it past the young femme's guilt and depression and she sat up a little straighter. "What?"

Nathanial didn't turn away from Aria's vacant eyes this time. "Bumblebee's getting worse again and Aria's letting herself get dragged down in the mess."

Arcee scrambled off her chair to the floor just behind the humans. "Well bring her back!" She very nearly screamed. There was still the very real chance that she would lose her best friend today; she couldn't lose her Jie Mei too.

"How?!" Nat demanded. He'd only seen one other human get heart-sick before, back when he'd first joined the Equine unit, before he'd even met Peg. The man's mount had been killed in battle and for two weeks all he did was stare at nothing. And then suddenly, for no reason that Nathanial had ever figured out, the man had just snapped. Nat still remembered the rider screaming like a banshee before he finally blew his own head off.

And now it was Aria that couldn't stop staring at nothing...

A distressed engine whine behind them reminded Nat that Arcee was still there. "If Wheeljack was captured by Decepticons he may have shut her out to keep her from feeling the backlash. She's never had to deal with that before and with Bumblebee's condition it probably feels like there's a vacuum in her spark. It's too much for her to deal with."

"So she's trying to find them to get rid of that empty feeling, only their bonds are so weak that she can't follow them to where they are." Nathanial mumbled as he tried to think of some way to get Aria to come back to herself. Even something as small as nod would be a relief. At least that would show that she was still in there somewhere.

Peg nosed Aria again, making the human wobble slightly. _"She's trying to tear her heart in two."_ She told her human worriedly. _"She'll never come back to us if she does."_

"Yeah Peg, I know." Nat muttered as he put his hands on either side of Aria's face to try and get her to see him. "Aria?" He called again in a loud voice, hoping it would make it past the vacancy behind her eyes. "Aria! You can't do this to yourself. You've got to come back to us! You hear me? You're killing yourself!"

Nothing.

He shook her slightly. "Come on Aria," he mumbled desperately between his teeth, "don't leave us like this. You're not helping Bumblebee by just leaving like this."

That got a flicker out of her. "...bee?" Came the dry whisper.

Nathanial felt his eyes widen. "Yes," came the instant reply, "yes Bumblebee! What do you think he's going to say when he wakes up and finds out that you're not there? Huh? That means you've got to stick around long enough to see him, right Aria?"

One side of her slack mouth twitched upwards. "Bee." She whispered again...and then to Nat's horror retreated even deeper into her broken spark to try and find her younger brother.

"No!" Nathanial shouted as Aria's eyes started to flutter shut as her spark got farther and farther from her body. Already she looked a little gray around the edges of her face. "You can't leave us like this! You've got to wake up!"

She had enough life left in her to whisper, "no."

That made all three of them blink. "But...why?" Arcee asked.

Aria slowly closed her eyes and then just as slowly opened them again, but only halfway. "...don't want to."

Arcee's engine gave out another distressed whine. "Jie Mei..." She mumbled, but she didn't know what else to say. She'd always known Aria was closest with Bee – of course she was, Arcee thought, Aria had been exposed to Bumblebee's spark so long when she had found them all in the Well that they hadn't so much imprinted on each other as they'd been engraved into each other's lives – but the idea that Aria would leave the rest of them just to die with Bumblebee was like a knife in Arcee's spark. Wasn't _she_ worth staying for...?

Nathanial couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for this. First their fight on the balcony, then the truth about the lens which had played a bitter role in the loss of the AllSpark and Bumblebee's condition...everything just hurt too much for Aria and it felt like there wasn't anyone left she could turn to that would understand.

And of course, now that he _did _understand he was the last being on the planet she would even consider listening to.

Nathanial ignored the painful irony as he lightly turned Aria so that she was staring right at him, even if she couldn't see him past the two inches of space between them. "I know you don't want to do this Aria," he said quietly but firmly, "you love them too much to just give up on them. And it's more than just Bumblebee that needs you. Remember what Val was saying the other day, by the elevator? He was terrified that you would leave him remember? And you promised you wouldn't. So you can't go like this. It'd break his spark."

A tiny spark of life appeared in Aria's eyes at Val's name. It was so small that it bordered on nonexistent, but Nathanial saw it and he refused to let it die out without a fight.

"And what about Bluestreak and Arcee?" He pressed. " And those two Seekers you kept telling me about? They aren't ready to let go of you yet Aria. And I know you don't want to let go of them either. All this time you've been there for them. Even the older ones wouldn't know what to do without you Aria. What about Prime? You said he was your best friend. Moonracer would never stop missing you. Hound would be devastated. Aria, they _need _you."

A slight crease above her eyebrows was the only sign of her frown. She tried to pull back from Nathanial, but he wouldn't let her.

"Ratchet would never forgive himself if you just slipped away. Elita and Chromia would never recover. Even _Prowl _would miss you. Are you just going to let them go through that?" He demanded.

Aria pulled away again, a little harder than before as more of her came back to herself, but she still wasn't strong enough to break Nathanial's hold.

Her eyes started to turn red as somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that the hurt was coming back. She could feel it in her chest where it was trying to suffocate her. Hadn't she just escaped that feeling? Where had the cold gone? It had chased away the hurt a moment ago. Why was it leaving her now to face this alone?

The more Aria struggled the more Nathanial thought she might still snap out of this. "Don't do this to us Aria," he told her, a small note of pleading coming into his voice, " I'm sorry I lied about the lens. I dug myself a hole and I couldn't find a way out, and if you can't stand to look at me ever again I understand, but _please_," he hissed, pressing his forehead against hers, "_please_ don't leave us like this."

A small whine that might have been a word escaped her.

Nathanial pulled back "Aria?"

She repeated the sound. Nathanial frowned. He had almost heard a word in there this time. "Aria-"

"Stop it," came the small words, then again, "Stop it! _Stop it!"_

She finally wrenched herself backwards, getting away from the noisy thing that was dragging her back into this suffocating existence. She felt a force ratchet up her spine as she landed with a thump on the floor beside Peg, eyes wildly looking around to try and make sense of what was happening to her.

For a split second she didn't know where she was...And in that half second, she was back, unable to escape reality for a second time.

"Aria?"

Aria jerked at the soft voice. Her heart was running wild in her chest, but as reality pressed itself back onto her mind, it began to slow. She looked up to see Nathanial, Arcee, and Peg staring at her worriedly.

"Jie Mei?" Arcee asked softly as she leaned over to see her sister under the chair. "Are you back with us?"

Aria felt her eyes flick over the people staring at her in concern. She licked dry lips. "I-I think so." She mumbled. "Why? Where'd I go?"

"You were going into spark-shock." Arcee told her just as Peg said, _"You were tearing yourself into pieces."_

A shiver inched its way down her back as she realized what had happened. Now that she thought about it, she dimly remembered reaching out to Bumblebee and Wheeljack, only they weren't where they were supposed to be in her spark. She had gone looking for them, and as she reached out for them she had been enveloped in this cloud of coldness that had dulled all the pain that was busy trying to tear the inside of her chest apart.

"Oh." She said.

She was shivering harder now as she realized just how close she had come to just giving up on her body entirely. Arcee must have realized it too, because little tremors began to shake their way across her shoulders.

"Jie Mei..." she mumbled in a small voice.

Aria tried to scramble to her feet, but her knees were shaking too much to support her weight. She tripped over her own feet, but didn't fall to the floor as Nathanial reached out and snapped her by the elbow.

She jerked away instinctively, still shaken by the thought of spark-shock. Nathanial didn't know that though, and jumped to his own conclusions about why Aria didn't want him touching her.

Aria saw his face instantly go neutral as he stepped away from her. She grimaced at herself, wishing she hadn't done that. It had just startled her after all that time feeling nothing.

But she was too concerned with Arcee to worry about correcting Nathanial's assumption. And maybe a part of her just didn't want to explain it anyway. Either way, she hobbled the rest of the way forward to where Arcee was waiting for her.

The two femmes sat there a long moment, shivering and taking what comfort they could from each other. Clinging to the fact that they weren't alone to try and get them through the next nano-klik, and then the klik after that.

Nathanial decided not to bother them. He waited for Peg to climb to her feet again before quietly leaving the room. They didn't need him here anyway.

...

The girls stayed there the whole night. After coming so close to dying from spark-shock, Aria didn't trust herself enough to sleep, but she was relieved when Arcee finally drifted off sometime around the middle of the night.

It was well past that now and Aria was exhausted. With a sigh, she leaned her head against Arcee's shoulder, but only half closed her eyes. After feeling so much in so short a time she felt emotionally drained. Somewhere in the back of her tired mind she thought that this must be what sponges felt like after they'd been wrung dry.

For the umpteenth time since she'd come back to herself, she checked the bond that ran between her and Bumblebee. It was dim, far weaker than its usual bright glow, but it was there again. And after everything else that had happened, Aria supposed that that was what really mattered.

_"Unlike the AllSpark." _Aria thought with a convulsive swallow. _"And without it..."_

Well, without it, it was only a matter of time before they all died anyway.

That thought made Aria wonder if maybe she shouldn't have just let the spark-shock take her earlier. It wasn't like she had anything to look forward to. Death would come anyway, sooner now, rather than later.

Usually she would have mentally kicked herself for thinking like that, but now she just wondered what the point was. What did any of them have to look forward to but Megatron and dark energon?

_"What hope do any of us have left?"_

The med bay doors suddenly opened with a quiet whoosh of air, cutting off Aria's depressed line of thought. She half turned to see who it was, and felt herself wake up a little more when she saw Ratchet's neon yellow frame step through the doors next to her.

He looked just as exhausted as Aria felt as he looked around the waiting area. It was empty now except for Aria and Arcee. Everyone else had either been seen too or had left to either recharge or bury themselves in work somewhere else.

Ratchet finally saw the two femmes and let go of a core deep vent of air. "I thought you'd still be here." He muttered, careful to keep his voice down for Arcee's sake. Then he held out a large open hand to Aria. "Come on," he told her wearily, "he's awake. But probably not for much longer. And after that spark-shock incident Hoist told me about, it'll be better for both of you to be physically closer together."

Aria carefully stepped onto Ratchet's waiting hand, her light frame not waking Arcee from her recharge. The human femme fidgeted fearfully as Ratchet lifted her up, but she couldn't force herself to speak before he re-entered the med bay.

"Is-" Aria asked in a shaky voice as the doors closed behind them, "is he going to be okay?"

Ratchet glanced down at her briefly before turning back to the area in front of him. "Depends on your definition of okay." He told her.

Aria was too scared of the answer to ask what that might mean.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. All around them, Aria saw the still forms of mechs, most of them recharging in an attempt to escape their reality for just a little while.

Aria couldn't blame them. A part of her wished she trusted herself enough to join them. But despite their hopeless situation, she didn't want to leave her young bots yet. And if the spark-shock snuck up on her again, she wasn't sure she had the strength to fight it off a second time.

Ratchet opened a door in the back of the room and carefully closed it behind him before turning to let Aria see what was inside.

She felt her throat constrict when she saw the frame in the middle of the room. Wires and tubes ran from chest, neck, and arms to various machines that beeped in the otherwise silent space. He was so still that for a nano-click Aria thought that Bumblebee had fallen back into recharge, and then the terrible thought that he hadn't made it difficult for her to breathe.

But then Bumblebee slowly unshuttered his optics, and Aria was able to pull in a deep breath.

Ratchet put Aria down on the table near Bumblebee's head. He didn't say anything as he turned to the different machines, checking the data they had recorded while he was seeing to other patients.

Aria thought the damage was worse up close. She could see the gouges in Bumblebee's throat and the depression where his vocorder had used to be. Most of the armor had been removed from his upper chest, either by Megatron or Ratchet, and the heat from his spark was coming off his protoform in a continuous haze that was already making Aria sweat. Around everything lingered the hot metallic smell of energon, thick enough to make Aria's stomach turn.

Despite the wires and the open wound, Bumblebee tilted his head just enough that he could see Aria standing next to him. Now that she was here, she didn't know what to do. How was she supposed to fix this?

The simple answer that she couldn't nearly made her break down again right then and there.

Ratchet finally finished his inspection of the different charts and turned to face them again. "I'll be back in a little while to check on him again." He murmured to Aria. "Don't keep him up too long."

Aria nodded mutely. She still didn't know what to say, to either of them. But Ratchet seemed to understand and nodded at her before turning and leaving the room.

Alone with her brother, Aria anxiously licked her lips. Her mouth had gone all dry and her throat hurt, either in sympathy or in an effort to try and keep from crying she wasn't sure.

Not sure what else to do, Aria stepped forward and put her hands on Bumblebee's cheek. He was still warm, which reassured her a little.

Relief and concern and what felt like a thousand different little slivers of emotion overran Aria's already overwrought heart and quiet tears began to slide down her face. Soon the sounds of her sniffs and ragged breathing punctuated the silence left behind by the beeping of the machines.

"I'm sorry," Aria finally wrangled the words out of her throat, "I'm sorry 'Bee. I'm so sorry." She told him, not knowing what else to say as she pressed her hands against the side of his face to let him know she was there.

The sudden burst of static, no matter how quiet it was, nearly scared Aria off the table top. At first she wasn't sure what was happening. She almost screamed for Ratchet before she realized that Bumblebee was trying to talk.

The crying got a little worse at that point.

No words made it out of the static and it soon stopped. Across their bond Aria knew that it hurt Bumblebee to try and form any kind of speech, so she wasn't surprised when the meaning came across their sibling bond instead.

_"Not your fault."_ Bee told her. Even here Aria thought he sounded tired.

Aria was hardly reassured. "But it shouldn't have happened. It should never have happened." She sobbed, leaning forward and pressing her forehead against Bumblebee's scratched up armor. "He should never have brought that thing here."

Bumblebee didn't have to ask who 'he' was. Even with Ratchet's painkillers making everything fuzzy, the context was clear enough.

_"Not his fault either."_ Bumblebee whispered across their bond.

Aria's ragged breath turned into a pathetic, chocked out sob. She wanted to believe that so badly that for a moment she couldn't breathe because the pressure on her chest was too intense. But everything looked so dark that she just couldn't find it in her to give Nat the benefit of the doubt.

"You were right." She sobbed instead once she could breathe again. "You were right about him all the time. I shouldn't have let him in."

But Bumblebee shook his head, just enough that he got the point across without disturbing the tubes around his head. Unsettled by his sudden movement Aria stepped back, worried eyes searching his face to see if he was alright.

Another burst of harsh static appeared, louder than the first time. But unlike last time, garbled words made it past the heart-sick noise.

"He-" Bumblebee struggled to get the words out. "-came back for-" he grimaced as the static got worse, mangling his next few words and forcing him to try again, "_you_...Ah-Aria."

Aria felt her eyes widen as her mouth dropped open. She was too surprised by her brother's words to remind him that he probably shouldn't try and talk.

After a cycle of hoping some kind of answer would just materialize in her mind, Aria just said, "Alright Bee, alright. Just don't, don't hurt yourself." She begged him, running her hands along his forehead to try and comfort him.

Bumblebee wasn't sure if Aria believed him or not, but he hoped she would eventually.

He half shuttered his optics as the pain spiked after his tortured attempt at talking. For a cycle he focused on Aria's hand on his forehead to try and keep himself from throwing up.

But eventually the feeling passed and Bumblebee relaxed against the flat table a little more.

"You feeling a little better 'Bee?" Aria asked softly next to him.

Bumblebee gave a small click to tell her he was, but didn't open his optics yet. Dimly he thought that it was a relief that none of the electronic sounds they made came from vocorders. At least he still had _one _method of verbal speech left to him, even if it was mainly used to talk with younglings. At least everyone understood it after dealing with the seven of them when they were smaller.

Bumblebee opened his optics when Aria's hands left his face. She was still right next to him he saw, but she was biting her lip as she looked at him with wide eyes, as if she didn't know what to do for him right now.

"Do, um, do you need anything 'Bee?"Aria whispered, wishing there was something she could do that would alleviate some of his pain.

For some reason a large part of the fire still burning in Bumblebee's throat abruptly disappeared. He stirred slightly in surprise, but then remembered that Ratchet had told him that there might be times when the few connections left in his speech systems would suddenly work. It would never be for very long, but it would happen. Occasionally.

Bumblebee took the chance that now was one of those times.

"Please don't leave me Jie Mei..." he whispered, the harsh static from before now reduced to soft hushing in the background before the rare connection broke with an audible _fzzt!_

It would be the clearest thing Aria would hear him say for a long, long time.

Aria sniffed loudly. "Of course not." She whispered back, some of her stubbornness finally coming back to her as she wrapped her arms carefully around him in what passed for a hug. "I'll never leave you Bee. Not _ever_. No matter what happens. Decepticons. Megatron. Boyfriends. I don't care. Nothing's going to keep me from you when you need me."

He stared at her with half-shuttered optics, but she could feel his relief swell up across their bond. As his anxiety started to ebb away, she could also feel the drag of sleep starting to pull him under.

Quietly, Aria settled herself down on the table next to Bumblebee, pulling her knees up to her chest as she curled up against the side of his head.

"I'll always be here." She told him softly before gently kissing his cheek.

That was the last thing Bumblebee heard before the insistent pull of recharge finally managed to overcome him and he slipped out of consciousness for the rest of the night.


	32. Chapter 32: Going Dark

Hello again! Here we are again at the bi-weekly, semi-regular update. Hooray! :) Now I don't know if I'm quite pleased with this chapter - I've got the peculiar feeling that something's missing...*frowns* - but it comes complete with good ending point and adding anything else would 1) Take too long and 2) Would probably just plain make it too long. I'm trying to make my chapters a little shorter (nothing unreasonable mind) so that I can finish them in a more timely manner.

And while I don't know if I like the chapter, for some reason I _really _like everything that's in it. How's that for weird? :3 Anyway I have two notes I want to add before you get to the chapter. First is that I hope you'll forgive my OP in here. I'm giving in him a hard time but he'll snap out of this soon. It's just that I think abadoning the AllSpark was harder for him than most of the canon lets on. Mainly because we never actually _see_ it in canon...

Second note is that this first part with the Decepticons is pretty me trying to answer one simple question: If the AllSpark gave the Transformers life, if it's really just a big ol' block of benevolent wonderful goodness that creates their sparks and fixes their frames (like with Frenzy in the first movie) then **_why the heck_**_ does it only create mean little monsters?! _WHY?! I don't get it. I really _really _don't get it. I mean, I didn't question it for years after watching the movie, but now I do. And now that I've thought about it, it just doesn't make a lick of sense... o.O Seriously. Does no one else wonder about this?

Right, well I'm going to stop rambling now. Thank you of course to all my lovely reviewers Birgitte LP, Bee4ever, Mercedes Wolfcry, PepperCornPie, KayleeChiara, Suzumehime, and Flarefox and Autobot-Bre (the last two which reviewed a week later and made me all happy just because of that lil fact)! I jumped and squeed with joy every time I saw a review alert in my inbox and I kind of cheered for every one of you who said my chapter made you cry. :) Don't take that the wrong way (is there even a right way?) because when you guys cry, it lets me know how much you love the characters and care about what happens to them. :) So **_thank__ you!_**

And I hope you enjoy this next chapter. I _think_ I may have the next chapter written a good way already, so cross your fingers because there _may_ be an update next Tuesday...you know, if I can sort out the tangle of plot lines in my head and get my typing fingers in gear. Just keep an eye out. Til then! :)

...

The Long Road Home

32 – Going Dark – 32

To say Megatron was unhappy would have been as ridiculous as Laserbeak squawking 'I tawt I taw a putty tat' whenever Ravage walked by.

He was pacing now, deep in the heart of Kaon, as a few unlucky bots watched from the side of the war room. From his place pressed against the wall, Knock Out shot a worried glance at his superior standing several feet in front of him and to the side. But if Shockwave was nervous about the Decepticon lord's black mood, it didn't show in his blocky purple frame.

The tension built another few cycles as Megatron turned on his booted heel and started another round of furious stomping, and then abruptly snapped as he stopped clean in the middle of the invisible line he'd been tracing.

"How did this happen?!" He demanded, voice echoing menacingly in the high ceilinged room.

Knock Out flinched, but he wasn't high enough on the food chain for Megatron to notice, although Starscream did give him a disdainful roll of his optics.

Knock Out had more than enough self-importance to glare back at the air commander. _"Selfish, highflying, smart aft." _The polished red medic thought.

Standing calmly in front of his subordinate, Shockwave's strictly logical processor saw no reason to be intimidated by the mech he served. "Undoubtedly the Autobots deduced our purpose at Tyger Pax and made plans to counter us. Evacuating the AllSpark was only logical when they discovered they could not repel us completely."

The glare Megatron shot him was enough to make Knock Out's knees start to knock together. He had always known Shockwave didn't do well with rhetorical questions, but this was _insane_...

"If it was so logical, Shockwave, then why didn't you mention it earlier?!" Megatron snarled.

Knock Out slid the purple mech a look when he didn't answer right away. He could be wrong, but the red mechasurgeon thought that this might be the first time he'd ever seen Shockwave thrown for a loop before.

"Because," Shockwave finally answered, clearly not knowing when to mute his vocal processor, "the chance that they would make it past our superior forces was low enough to be inconceivable. We could not have anticipated their plans or their possession of original blueprints to Simfur."

Starscream looked up at the ceiling with his usual superior attitude. "Clearly some mechs don't understand how quickly the odds can change on the battlefield. It's no wonder he never comes out of his lab." He sniffed haughtily.

Shockwave's frame didn't move, but Knock Out suddenly had the urge to step away as a wave of almost homicidal irritation swept off his superior.

Megatron got there first though. "Then tell me Starscream," he growled menacingly as he bore down on the air commander, "if a scientist like Shockwave doesn't understand the battlefield, then what's your excuse? Your vast and unappreciated superiority complex or just general _stupidity?!_"

The Seeker leaned away from Megatron, half holding up his hands as if to placate the other mech. His engine gave a little stutter as he tried to defend himself. "Ah, now-now Megatron, n-no one could have counted on Omega Supreme's sudden appearance. Not even Soundwave's little spies knew he was there." He struggled to turn Megatron's attention to the other mech in the room.

Knock Out huffed quietly to himself. _"That's because no one thought Omega Supreme was _real _until a few joors ago."_ He thought, but didn't dare say it out loud.

Megatron vented a derisive snort at Starscream's feeble defense, but slowly straightened up anyway, giving the Seeker room to breathe. "Soundwave," he grumbled darkly, "Soundwave's the only one I can count on among the egotistical fools I call my officers!" He flung a disgusted hand in the air, taking every mech but one in with the gesture.

Knock Out frowned, not appreciating the implication that he didn't know how to do his job, but given Megatron's mood, was smart enough to let it go. For now.

Megatron's fury started to boil off as he climbed the short steps to his throne and settled himself into the hard chair. He leaned to one side as his newly violet optics slowly swept the room. His hard gaze lingered on each mech briefly before turning to glare at the next one.

"Soundwave!" He eventually barked into the quiet hall. "What news of the Cube?"

There was a slight pause in the room as Soundwave found the correct report in his databanks. "Moon Base I reports no sign of the Cube. They are still following the AllSpark's trajectory, but no new information has been discovered."

Knock Out stalled his vents without realizing it as he waited for Megatron's reaction.

It wasn't long in coming. With a kind of feral roar that he'd only heard on the battlefield, Megatron swept an armored hand across the table next to him, throwing data pads and energon containers against the far wall. They shattered with a high pitched crash and exploded outward in a sparkling, electronic display that had Knock Out flinching automatically behind Shockwave's blockier frame.

_"Where is my AllSpark?!"_ Megatron roared.

Knock Out didn't dare move, not even to remove the broken pieces of glass that were leaving tiny scratches in his highly prized paint job. From the silence that suddenly pervaded the room, no one else was keen on answering the Decepticon leader either.

It wasn't until Megatron had calmed slightly and leaned back in his throne again that Soundwave dared to speak.

"Any trail the AllSpark left has already dissipated." He continued his report. Knock Out just looked up at the ceiling, wondering how that could possibly help anything after that little display, as he carefully cleared the shattered glass off his armor. "It is possible that long range sensors could still pick it up, however the odds are less than impressive."

"Less than impressive." Starscream scoffed from the opposite wall. "Try non-existent. Even _if_ the Cube is still within sensor range, we'd have to know where to look to even have a chance of spotting it out there in space. And the only one who even _might _know where it went is Omega Supreme. The largest, strongest Autobot now on the planet, who is now sitting in the middle of Iacon."

"The most well defended Autobot city." Shockwave added.

"The last remaining Autobot city." Soundwave corrected.

Starscream ignored them both as he crossed his arms contemptuously over his narrow chest. "And that's assuming that they sent it to a specific set of coordinates, which they probably _haven't._ Face it Megatron," Starscream said, stepping forward to stare his leader down, "the AllSpark is lost."

"Then I will find it again!" Megatron snapped, optics burning brighter for a klik as he sat forward in his throne. Knock Out leaned back, afraid of another violet outburst.

But after a tense nano-klik, Megatron relaxed, a thoughtful expression on his face plates. "You have a point Starscream." He added after a moment of thought.

Knock Out felt his optic ridges rise into his helm. When was the last time he'd heard anyone say _that_ about Starscream?

Even the Seeker looked suspicious of the sudden agreement. "I do?" He asked, voice rising just a little.

Megatron ignored the little sign of strain. "We can't just find the AllSpark by chasing after it blindly. We need a direction."

"We could get the Cube's location from Omega Supreme." Shockwave suggested. "I have been working on a device that would allow me to go through other bots' memory banks by tapping into their central processor."

Knock Out smirked to himself we he caught sight of the look on Starscream's face. "A-a _what?!_" The Seeker gave an almost feminine screech. "I always knew you were disturbed Shockwave, but invading processors now? That's just sick."

Shockwave just stared at the Seeker with his one, red optic, not understanding the Seeker's fear. "I have called it a cortical psychic patch. It will make it easier to gather information from captured Autobots."

The explanation did not make Starscream feel any better. "Of course it will..." he muttered to himself.

Off to the side, Knock Out smirked. Unlike Shockwave, he knew why Starscream would be nervous around a machine that could just pick his thoughts out of his own mind. The Seeker had quite the reputation for being, shall we say, treacherous to his comrades health at times.

But Megatron waved his scientist off. "As useful as that sounds Shockwave, it is still quite possible that even Omega Supreme does not know the location of the AllSpark. If they really sent the Cube off blindly into space, then capturing him would be a waste of time and energon. Neither of which we can afford to waste." He muttered darkly, optics narrowing at the admission.

"What we need is a device that can track the AllSpark across vast distances." He continued. "Shockwave, you will make such a device. Soundwave will find you the information about the Cube's specific energy signature for reference-"

"With all due respect Lord Megatron," Shockwave interrupted him, "the Cube's energy signature is useless at this point."

Megatron's optics narrowed again as he looked over at his lead scientist. "Explain."

"Dark energon." Shockwave supplied succinctly. "By touching the AllSpark with the dark energon lens, you contaminated the Cube's natural energy. It's signature would have been altered by the contact as well."

"Forget the signature," Starscream squawked, "what do you mean the AllSpark's been contaminated?! What does that mean for the rest of us?" He pointed at his chest with one clawed digit, optics wide.

Megatron seemed interested as well. "Does the Cube now produce dark energon?" He asked Shockwave.

Shockwave ran through what information he had been given concerning the AllSpark and the dark energon lens. "Negative." He told them. "The corruption was not that extensive. Longer contact may create such an effect, but I would need more information to know for certain."

"Well then what _did_ change?" Starscream asked loudly.

Shockwave stared at him like it was obvious. "The Cube." He told him. "It is most likely that even that little exposure to the dark energon lens will affect the Cube's output."

Knock Out thought about that. _"Interesting..."_ he mused in his own head.

Starscream raised an optic ridge at him, still not comprehending. "It's output?" He asked carefully. "And just what is the Cube's _output_?"

By his wide grin, Megatron had obviously already figured it out. "Us." He said, optics burning. "Our sparks come from the Well of AllSparks, which is fueled by the Cube. _We_ are its output." He said triumphantly as he got to his feet, still grinning.

Starscream slumped forward, sullenly eying first the stoic Shockwave and then the suddenly grinning Megatron. He vented a sharp sigh. "And what does that mean?!" He asked, sounding like a sulking youngling that needed his nap.

"It means," Shockwave said in his usual level voice, "that until it has been decontaminated, any further creations of the AllSpark will have some, less intense, properties of darkened bots."

Starscream thought about this, optic ridges furrowing as he tapped a digit against his chin. "So..." he said slowly, "they'll be violent little maniacs?" He ventured.

Shockwave fixed a stare on him that was somehow disdainful despite the fact his body language had not changed. "In your terms," he stated slowly, "yes."

Starscream fixed his own glare at the scientist. "Just because you were put in the theoretical sciences caste instead of the practical sciences like _some _of us doesn't mean you're any better than me Shockwave." He shot back.

Shockwave continued to fix his stare on the Seeker. "On the contrary Starscream."

The air commander bristled, wings going stiff behind him, but a look from Megatron made him keep his comeback to himself. Instead he hunched over and leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "Hmph," he grumbled to himself, "Stupid know-it-all mech."

But he put aside Shockwave's insults as he thought about what a poisoned AllSpark meant for the Decepticons. He grinned as a vision of a horde of little, violet optic seekers swarming over planets crossed his processor.

He chuckled to himself. "Such fun." He murmured. "Sounds like a promising future."

Megatron must have heard him, because he answered, "Indeed Starscream. But we still have to find the AllSpark and return it to Cybertron. Otherwise our planet is doomed."

"For that we will need energon." Starscream reminded Megatron. "Something we're all running preciously low on. A retrieval team might get farther running on dark energon," he conceded, "but even _that_ is becoming scarce."

Megatron held up a digit. "Calm yourself Starscream. We have more dark energon than you think." He turned to the mech next to him before Starscream could ask how. "Soundwave, mission report." He snapped.

Soundwave didn't need to wait for the specific files this time. "Mission successful Lord Megatron. It is done."

Knock Out shivered as Megatron grinned again. He didn't know what they were talking about, but he tilted his head just enough to hear them better, hoping they would let something important slip.

Starscream was waiting for an explanation too, however before Megatron could get into the details, he looked up, seeming to notice Knock Out for the first time.

He narrowed his violet optics at the assistant medic, making Knock Out stiffen uncomfortably.

"Shockwave," Megatron said instead, "you already know what's going on. Get back to your lab and start working on a dark energon detector to compensate for the AllSpark's new energy signature. We'll need it to locate the Cube." He raised a hand and flapped it toward the door, sneering at the red mech trying hard to remain inconspicuous against the wall. "And take your _assistant _with you."

Knock Out wilted slightly in relief. At least he wasn't about to be shattered into pieces like the unfortunate energon container he was still picking out of his shoulder joint.

Shockwave bowed to his lord – Knock Out hastily copying him – before turning and leaving the room, assistant in tow.

Shockwave went on ignoring his so called assistant even outside the room. Knock Out wasn't surprised. That's how Shockwave was. He had his work, you had yours, and if you didn't know what you were doing then more likely than not you ended up on his table instead.

Knock Out sneered, thinking of the different bots that just hadn't been able to hack working with Shockwave. _"Amateurs." _He thought as he turned left and headed back to his own work space. There was still a particularly interesting study he wanted to finish about the correlation between over-transformation and complete spark failure waiting for him on his desk.

He saw the mech leaning casually against the wall near the doors before the mech saw him. But that was probably because the other mech was busy staring at one of the rare Decepticon femmes that was walking past. The femme had the usual black and violet paint job but with, peculiarly enough, soft yellow accents at her joints. Almost in spite of himself, Knock Out had to admit she had a stellar shine to her odd paint job. The mech himself was broad shouldered, blue, and very familiar.

Knock Out rolled his optics at the sight of his battle partner making a fool of himself. "I don't know why you bother Breakdown. The only thing she'd do to you if you got her alone is tear you apart."

Breakdown looked up sharply, but then grinned when he saw who it was. "Oh, it's only you." He said before he turned back to the femme, but frowned when he saw she'd already disappeared around the far corner.

Breakdown shoved himself off the wall and fell into step with his partner. "Thanks a lot Knock Out." He muttered, elbowing Knock Out and nearly sending him into the opposite wall.

Knock Out frowned at Breakdown but didn't retaliate. He knew Breakdown well enough to know that if he'd meant to hurt him, he wouldn't have held back. Instead the red medic brushed off his already scored chassis, more bits of glass flying off. "Watch it Breakdown," he snapped lightly, "you almost scratched my paint!"

Breakdown just rolled his optics at his partner's vanity. "No wonder you never mess with the femmes. The only thing that can get your attention is a mirror."

Knock Out didn't dispute the fact as he finished brushing himself off. "Even though I _am_ the only thing worth looking at around here," he said, nose in the air, "I don't mess with those femmes because they are _insane_. The only reason Lord Megatron tolerates them is because they've slaughtered anyone stupid enough to come after them. I trust you'll remember that Breakdown. I'd hate to have to deal with another partner." He smirked as he slid a glance at Breakdown. "Training _you_ was hard enough."

Breakdown scoffed. "Yeah, whatever." He muttered. "You wanna hit the sparring field or what?"

Knock Out looked down at the little rents running through his red paint and vented a sigh. "Might as well." He grumbled. "I'll need to get a touch up anyway."

Breakdown took that as a yes and turned right at the next intersection. It was a few cycles before he thought to ask, "So how'd the meeting go?"

Knock Out frowned, thinking over the answer. But in the end all he did was shrug one shoulder in his usual languid manner before saying, "Oh you know. Same old, same old."

...

The news that all the remaining energon reservoirs were going dark hit them shortly after Elita-One, Chromia, Firestar, and Lancer had left the city. And it wasn't just the femmes calling it in. The few remaining pockets of neutrals still online were sending Prime urgent messages – some of them across emergency channels they had sworn they'd never use – most of their voices on the brink of panic as they reported that the hidden energon springs they'd been living off of were going from their natural iridescent green color to a sickly violet they'd never seen before.

Prime had given Blaster orders to calm them down as best he could, but with no way to reverse the process, there really wasn't anything he could tell the neutrals that would help.

_"And speaking of the red mech..."_

Blaster stepped into the Hall of Record's reading room as if he was afraid there was a cyber-cat lurking in the shadows. "Uh, Prime?" He asked carefully as the door slid shut behind him. "We've just gotten a message from Dovetail and her gang hidden over in the ruins of Tarn. Seems like the main spring there turned about ten cycles ago. And all those little tributaries that run off from it are turning as we speak."

"Then it won't be long until Tarn's remaining energon springs have gone dark." Prowl surmised off to Prime's right. Bluestreak, standing on the tactician's other side, nervously looked between the three older mechs. Dovetail was one of the few neutral femmes left. She was level headed and compassionate and Bluestreak rather liked her. He was relieved she was still okay, but wished he had heard the good news almost any other way then with an emergency call.

Blaster looked down at his data pad again, as if hoping good news had materialized on it since he had last looked. But of course it hadn't.

"Uh, yeah. Pretty much." He answered Prowl quietly.

Prime slowly shuttered his optics. So these were the consequences of his actions. Autobots and neutrals alike were being faced with the choice of starvation or giving into dark energon...and he'd just sent away the only thing that could have saved them into the dark reaches of deep space.

Prime was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't even feel Prowl staring at him with determined optics. But when Optimus didn't say anything, the black and white XO turned sharply to Blaster.

"Tell them to save as much un-contaminated energon as they can, but don't touch the dark energon. Relay those orders to every bot located around every known energon spring. We need to save as much as possible before they all go dark."

Blaster nodded uncertainly. "Right." He mumbled. Then with a quick look at the unresponsive Prime, he ducked out of the door again and high tailed it back to the communications room.

Left alone with his superior and the younger bot he'd mentored, Prowl turned toward Optimus and waited for him to acknowledge him. "Prime?" He asked evenly, although Prime didn't answer.

Unsure of what to do now, Bluestreak stood silently behind the officer that had helped him all that time ago when Aria had first found him in the Well of AllSparks after his home had been razed. The young bot fidgeted nervously in the silence, wondering if he should even be here as he flicked anxious optics towards Prime whenever he dared.

"Prime." Prowl stated again, trying to get Prime's attention.

Bluestreak's optics flicked toward Prowl before darting back to his nervously moving digits. What was wrong with Optimus? Why didn't he do something? He _was_ the Prime, so he must know what to do next, right? Because there wasn't a chance that he _didn't _know what to do. That would be ridiculous. Outrageous! Silly even! No, Primes _always _knew what to do next. They _always _had a plan.

...right?

Bluestreak ducked his optics to the floor again. He didn't like these thoughts running around inside his processor. They were frightening and wrong.

Optimus remained unaware of Prowl's stubborn staring and Bluestreak's inner turmoil. All he could hear – all he'd heard for the past few cycles – were the words of the Decepticon from Tyger Pax.

_"Blast you Prime! Blast you to the Pit and back! You've killed us all!_

_ "You've killed us all!"_

_**"You've killed us all!"**_

"Prime!"

Optimus' optics flew open at Prowl's uncharacteristic shout. If he had to guess, he'd say that it hadn't been Prowl's first attempt at getting his attention. Just how long had he been standing here?

Slowly, Optimus looked up at his second. Bluestreak thought he looked tired, like he hadn't recharged in orns. The look on Prowl's face was even stranger, Bluestreak thought, because he looked _frustrated_.

The young mech tried to think of a time when he'd seen Prowl look just so aggravated. That time the twins had painted his doorwings pink? No. When he had lost a bet with Ironhide and had to give up his favorite acid pellet blaster? No, not then either. When Jazz had made him promise to come to the next poker game only to tell him later they were betting the armor they were wearing instead of credits? No, not even then. And the black and white had come in dead last that time too.

Bluestreak decided he'd never seen Prowl look so frustrated before. And a frustrated Prowl was not an easy thing to deal with.

Optimus didn't look like he was up to dealing with an aggravated Prowl right then, Bluestreak thought, which was probably why he hung his head again when the other mech didn't say anything.

It wasn't until Prime had look away that Prowl said, rather loudly, "Orders, sir?"

Optimus glanced up at him again, but didn't know what there was he could possibly say. Save yourself? Head for the hills? Abandon all hope ye who enter here?

The large mech slowly shook his head, frowning. This wasn't like him. He shouldn't think such things, he told himself. But it was proving very hard not to.

Prowl was having none of it. "Orders. Sir." He said, sterner than before.

Prime glanced up at his second again from under his helm. "I don't have any Prowl. No orders. No new ideas. I've maneuvered us into a corner and there's no way out. If you have any brilliant ideas in that processor of yours, now's the time to use them."

Bluestreak gasped and took an involuntary half step back. His doorwings were so stiff he thought they were going to just fall off. Primes didn't talk like that! Primes didn't give up in times of trouble! His auditors must be malfunctioning. They _had _to be!

Prowl frowned, optic ridges crashing together above his optics. "Are you giving up Prime?" He asked, sounding somewhere between aghast and affronted, two things Bluestreak had never heard from the former police officer before, not even when Sideswipe had made off with most of his armor in that infamous poker game!

Prime didn't know if it was safe to answer that question, so he didn't try to.

Prowl only grew angrier at Prime's silence, making Bluestreak even more nervous than before. Prowl was scary when he was mad. He dared to glance over at his semi-guardian to see the tell-tale creases in his face had deepened as he frowned down at Optimus. "Sir, you can't just stand there. We need orders. You're the leader of the Autobots. You're the _Prime_. You need to _do_ something." He stressed.

Optimus Prime finally found enough strength in himself to straighten up. Prowl mimicked him automatically when Prime met his optics for the first time.

"And do what?" Optimus asked, harsher than he had meant. Almost slowly, he stretched out his arm towards the grit stained window that was letting in a smoky colored light from outside. "Cybertron's dwindling energon supply is being poisoned. We can only save so much before it's unusable and even then it won't be enough to keep us running. It's not even enough that we'd be able to save the neutrals. We're not fighting a war anymore Prowl. We're fighting a deadline, in every sense of the word. And the one thing that could have saved us – the _only _thing – is _gone_." He paused, letting that sink in. "So tell me Prowl. What can we do to survive?"

Before Prowl could answer, Bluestreak found himself talking and, in typical Bluestreak fashion, he wasn't sure how to make himself stop.

"We could get the AllSpark back!" He suggested wildly, processor latching onto the first reasonable idea it could find. "We could go and get it back from...well from wherever it was that it went. Or-or we could just go find new energon. Other planets have energon right? Yeah! There were colonies weren't there? A long time ago? So they must have found other places with energon. We could just go there and get enough to save ourselves – Oh! And the neutrals too of course. –then we could go and get the AllSpark and then-" his voice dwindled down as his processor caught up with his running mouth, but it was too late to turn back now, "-everything could be al-alright again..." he trailed off, embarrassed with himself for speaking out of turn.

For a long moment Prime only stared at Bluestreak, not saying anything. Bluestreak tried not to shudder, but it was hard. He wished he could just take back everything he'd just said! Why couldn't he be quiet for once in his life?!

Prime finally looked away with a deep sigh and Bluestreak resisted the urge to melt to the floor in relief.

"I highly doubt it would be that simple Bluestreak." Prime eventually said tiredly. "Even if we had the means of getting off the planet, we don't have enough energon to keep ourselves online for even a short trip." He tried to say calmly, but Prowl noted the hints of strain appearing on his faceplates.

"Stasis pods-" Bluestreak tried.

"Would not fix the problem." Optimus smoothly interjected, voice a little hotter than before. Wearily, he rubbed at the bridge of his nose and vented a core deep sigh. "And how do you know anything is even out there? No one's been in contact with any kind of space party since before the Quintessons invaded Cybertron, during Sentinel Prime's time. Just where would we go?" He asked sternly.

"The colonies-" the young mech tried again.

"Are probably _extinguished_." Optimus snapped. "No one's heard anything from them in vorns. Would you really want to gamble the lives of everyone still in Iacon on the naive hope that _anyone_ is even out there?" He demanded of the young mech, looking up to meet his optics.

He knew he'd gone too far as soon as the harsh words left his mouth – well, that and the look of warning Prowl was sending him with sharp optics – but he didn't know how to call them back.

Optimus sighed. "I'm sorry Bluestreak," he said quietly, seeing the younger bot's wide optics, "but I think it's time we faced the truth. There's nothing left we can do. The Autobots are finished."

Bluestreak was so shocked to hear his leader – his _Prime_ – say those words that his mouth dropped clean open. He tried to say something, but no words came. Not even a horrified squeak like when he'd caught the twins rearranging the well organized contents of Prowl's desk that one time.

Even Prowl was appalled, Bluestreak saw. Or at least he assumed that's what this facial expression meant. He'd never seen Prowl's optics so wide before. The only reason _his_ jaw wasn't swinging in the wind was because he'd clenched it so tight that Bluestreak could hear his denta creaking together.

Bluestreak's processor suddenly caught up with what was happening in a rush. "No!" Bluestreak cried. "No you can't say that Prime! You just can't! We-you-you can't give up because-because you just can't! We can't just let the Decepticons _win_-"

The words probably would have just kept spewing out of his mouth in a semi-sensible order if Prowl hadn't put a hand on Bluestreak's shoulder guard, getting his attention.

"Go check on Aria, Bluestreak." He told him quietly.

"But-" Bluestreak tried, only to get cut off for the third time that cycle.

"Go." Prowl said firmly. "Make sure she and Bumblebee are alright. Go on." He patted him once on the shoulder before firmly sending him towards the door.

Still stunned from Prime's words, Bluestreak turned and looked at his leader, then his guardian, with wide optics, but nonetheless made his way towards the door.

Prowl waited for it to close behind the younger bot before finally releasing the vent full of air he'd been holding ever since Prime had spoken. It had taken him just this long to finally convinced his processor that _yes, _this was real and _no,_ it should not glitch.

And now he was thoroughly unhappy.

"If you don't snap out of this Prime, I will be forced to relieve you of your duties." He said, voice colder than Optimus had heard it in a long time.

"If you think you can get us out of this mess in some kind of coherent piece, I'll gladly let you." Prime answered back.

He felt more than saw Prowl's angry glare, as if he was trying to peel away his armor by staring at it. Optimus fully expected him to go into a kind of tirade about the duty of commanders to their soldiers, but to his great surprise, the only sound Prowl made was the clack of his boot heel as he sharply turned and headed towards the door.

Optimus looked up, somewhat surprised. Prowl's optics were still bright with disbelief and a kind of cold fury. He didn't trust himself enough at the moment to stay here much longer.

"Where are you going?" Prime asked, perhaps out of a morbid curiosity since apparently there was _nothing left to do_, Prowl thought bitterly.

"I'm going to speak with Omega Supreme." He announced perhaps a little too loudly. "He's the Guardian of the AllSpark and if anyone knows how to find it again, it's him." Prowl snapped out without turning around. "And at least _he _hasn't given up on us yet." He grumbled bitterly.

The door opened with a clean, swishing sound, but Prowl stopped before leaving the room entirely. After a moment of silence, he smartly turned around again to face Prime. It wasn't difficult to see the angry disbelief twisting underneath the stoic mask the Autobot second was trying so hard to maintain.

"The Autobots are _not_ finished." He said tightly. "Not while one of us is still here. Not while we keep on fighting. And I _will,_ even if you won't Prime."

Optimus met his gaze, but found he had nothing to say.

Realizing that, Prowl's jaw tightened. "You're not just some two bit data clerk anymore Optimus. You're a _Prime_. It's time you stop hiding in here and start acting like one." He snapped. Then before he could leave, Prowl threw out a hand and pointed a threatening digit at Optimus as if he just remembered he still had something to say. "And if you ever speak to Bluestreak like that again I'll throw your aft in the brig myself." Prowl growled.

Then he turned around and left as quickly as he dared, leaving the door to close quietly behind him.

Optimus Prime did not follow him.


	33. Chapter 33: Found in Trace Amounts

Yay! Early update! Go me. :3 Unlike last week, I am _very_ pleased with this one, especially with the first part with the Omega Supreme so I can't wait to hear what you guys think of that! ;)

Thanks in ample amounts to my reviewers Bee4ever, Xireana Zetsubou, Khalthar, KayleeChiara, Autobot-Bre, Lunar Mist, PepperCornPie, and Flarefox! I love you guys honest I do. And if I may include all the favs/alerters that I got this week too, you make posting these things so much fun! :) And you're the reason this story just past 21,000 hits! o.O Woohoo! Go everybody! XD

OH! And a great big thank you to PyrothTenka for his/her previous review for the chapter Bumblebee at Tyger Pax. He/she said something there that sparked an idea, which in turn sparked this part of the chapter where Omega is thinking to himself. So thank you! I love the idea your comment spawned! Thankyathankyathankya! XD

Now I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll try and post in a week or two depending on how fast the ideas come. n_n;

* * *

><p><strong>Note to Flarefox<strong> (who has no reply service) on her Wheeljack-related worry: First, thanks for your review! I always get excited when I see names I recognize attached to the review alert ;) As for our main mech himself, I don't want to give too much away...but living in that kind of fear is just too much when it comes to anyone's favorite bot! DX So _**yes** _you will see him again. _**No,** _he will not be old. Is that what they did in the movie? I thought they had just made him, ya know, more Einstein-y. o.o And yeah, I didn't like it so much either. I didn't even realize that _was _Wheeljack at first! So I guess I don't like changing G1-goodness Jack either. n_n; As for _when_ he reappears...well that's still author's-eyes-only at this point. But, um *looks guiltily around* you may (possibly, maybe, kinda, sorta) not want to hold your breath... Sorry! :(_  
><em>

Anyway, hope to hear from you soon!

...

The Long Road Home

33 – Found in Trace Amounts – 33

The world had apparently shrunk since Omega Supreme had walked it last. The Cybertron in his memory banks had been large even by his standards, filled with grand, golden arch ways and towering feats of architecture. Bridges spanned the space between buildings at immense heights, honeycombing the structures together into the big, beautiful city that Omega had called home.

And now what was left? A miniature replica that only had hidden gleams of what it had once been. An ash covered ghost as far as Omega Supreme could see.

The goliath mech slowly shook his head, the creaking of his little used gears the only sound he could hear. The Cybertron-That-Was only existed in his head and thinking on it wouldn't bring it back. The only thing that could restore his home was the AllSpark. If only he could find it...

Omega Supreme shuttered his large optics, attention dropping inward to check on the status of his specialized homing systems that hadn't been used for eons even before he'd taken on the shape of Simfur. He frowned at his rusty state – Guardians of the AllSpark should not _be _rusty, he thought at himself – and finished running a check of his sensors before directing them outward.

'Seeing' with sensors was not at all like seeing with optics. Instead of identifying an object in the visible spectrum like optics did, sensors either broke down and identified the base particles of a thing or picked up any left behind by an object's passing. It was a very different way of perceiving the world and it took Omega Supreme a moment to get used to the difference as data began downloading into his central processor.

_Sensors online. Searching...searching...Found: localized trail of hydrogen dioxide, heavy energon particles-_

No, Omega Supreme thought, those were the emissions left behind by Moon Base I. It must have crossed the AllSpark's trajectory sometime on their way back to Iacon. Dismiss.

_Searching...searching...Found: multiple deposits of regolith, carbonaceous chondrite and hydrated minerals-_

No again. That was just the small asteroid belt that surrounded Cybertron. Dismiss.

_ Found: ionized molecules of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen dioxide, etc.-_

Ion tail of a comet.

_ -high energy protons and electromagnetic radiation-_

Solar Flare.

_-heated ionized hydrogen. Warning: reaching maximum sensor range-_

Just a little farther...

_-large deposit of chondrite, pyroxene, iron, and regolith. Warning: Maximum sensor range reached. No new data available._

Omega Supreme scrutinized the last set of asteroids his sensors had picked up, hoping for any sign of super heated energon that would tell him that the AllSpark had passed this way, but there was nothing.

With a deep vented sigh, he dismissed the last few remaining readouts from his sensors and let them idle for the time being. His optics onlined as soon as they were in standby, and Omega Supreme found himself once again sitting in the little clear space between a cluster of rusty, Iacon buildings.

Presently the goliath mech was sitting in an open space near the heart of the city, roughly where the Council Hall would have been had it still stood. Omega wasn't sure, but he thought this empty space must have been an atrium for alien plant life that had been discovered and brought back to Cybertron by some long ago exploration party. Usually he would have felt odd sitting on the unusual foliage, but the plants had died off ages ago, leaving crumbling sticks that broke apart when he tried to pick them up.

Distantly, as Omega craned his thick neck to look up at the empty sky above him, he wondered what would have upset Alchemist Prime more; the state of the once grand city he'd designed and built, or the fact that some bot had let alien plant-life into the city limits.

He put the distracting thought to the side as he searched the skies above, but his optics spied nothing except little stars shining intermittently between the dark blackness of space.

Omega frowned, not really surprised, but wishing he'd picked up _something _of use. He'd been searching for the AllSpark ever since he'd been taken back to the city, but for hours the only thing he'd found were asteroids, space debris, and the distant heat signatures of far off stars.

The muffled crunch of dead plants underfoot suddenly alerted him to their presence. Behind his astronaut-like helmet, Omega Supreme frowned. True, he was busy searching for the AllSpark's signal, but his sensors should have picked up the others' spark-signals well before now. His systems must not have survived his time as Simfur as well as he'd first thought. He tapped lightly at a sensor panel, thinking he'd have to talk to that yellow medic about running maintenance on them before he engaged the enemy again.

Of course, if there _was _some sort of problem with his long distance scanners, then that might explain why he hadn't yet found the AllSpark. While not very reassuring that he'd wasted all this time with faulty scans, it was still a welcome idea after hours of no results.

Putting that aside for later, Omega Supreme turned at the waist to see who had joined him out here in the semi-dark.

He didn't remember their names, but he recognized their faces as three of the bots that had been on the hill when he'd first transformed. The foremost was a black and white mech with a scowl on his face and the words 'Kaon Law Enforcement' half scratched off his doorwings. Behind him was a large black mech with high-level, military grade cannons and a new scar dimming one optic. Behind him and to the side stood a smaller, silver mech with a blue visor who seemed to blend in easily with the dismal background around them. The femmes were elsewhere, as was the tall, blue and red defender mech that had stood behind Prime on the hill, but most noticeable was Prime's own absence from the group.

Omega frowned, large optic ridges drawing closer together in his dark curiosity of where the Prime might be.

Before he could ask, the black and white spoke up. "Omega Supreme," he called in a loud, but even voice up at the giant, unaware of his thoughts, "we've come to ask you about the AllSpark."

"Mainly have you found the dang thing yet?" The silver bot asked.

Omega Supreme blinked at the small mech's complete irreverence towards the Cube that had given his species life. The black and white must have agreed with him – or at least seen the look of shock on Omega's face – because he half turned and gave a reprimanding, "Jazz."

The silver mech just shrugged, not apologizing. "Well it's not like it can hear me." He muttered back.

Omega thought that perhaps the best course of action was to ignore the smallest mech – now designated Jazz – for the moment and returned his attention to the black and white.

"AllSpark location: still unknown. Sensors workability: questionable."

The speaker's optic ridges creased together slightly. So far it was the most emotion Omega Supreme had seen from the former law enforcement officer. "What do you mean?" He asked, voice still perfectly even.

Omega slowly shuttered and unshuttered his optics before answering, rechecking his sensors to see if maybe they could pick up the other bots' spark signatures now that they were closer, but no. They still read nothing. "Autobot spark signatures: Undetected. Sensors: Malfunctioning." He told them, somewhat embarrassed by the fact.

But the small one just threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, that." He said with a dismissive wave of his arm. "Don't get your armor in a twist OS. Yer just a little bit outta the loop."

The black mech shoved the silver one, making him stumble. "Don't go confusin' him Jazz." He looked back up at Omega. "He's talkin' about our battle protocols."

Omega Supreme had never heard of battle protocols before. But then, all the conflicts he'd been in had dealt with an outside force attacking Cybertron, like the Quintessons. Maybe they were necessary when fighting other bots?

Seeking some kind of coherent answer, Omega Supreme turned his head towards the black and white. "Explanation: Required."

The former law officer didn't flinch from the larger bot's unmoving gaze. "He's referring to a subroutine that was implemented shortly after the war with the Decepticons started. They were able to track down neutrals and Autobots by locating their spark signatures. Battle protocols were made to make this impossible for them to do, among other things."

"Even the bots caught the middle of everything got that upgrade. You might want ta look into it there Omega." The black mech told him, his injured optic flickering slightly as he squinted up at the large bot.

"Although I think it'll take more than a couple of clever subroutines to hide somebot as big as you." Jazz added.

Omega looked down at his claw-like servos and all around large frame. Yes, the small, somewhat-annoying one had a point. It wasn't like he could just duck into the nearest building to go unseen.

The black one abruptly vented an explosive sigh and rubbed at his helm with one hand, wincing when he accidentally disturbed his still healing face plates. "But of course that means that your sensors are workin' just fine."

"Which means that the AllSpark has practically disappeared." The black and white muttered.

And now their disturbing conversation had come full circle.

Omega Supreme slowly looked up at the star-filled sky above them, his neck conduits stretching uncomfortably. It just didn't make sense to him though...

"Omega Supreme: Guardian of the AllSpark." He told them again, still staring up at the sky above them. "Guardians: Always know AllSpark's location. Knowledge: Hardwired into their core by the AllSpark when first chosen."

But his explanation was only met with blank stares. Obviously they still didn't understand.

Jazz finally vented a sigh as he briefly hung his head and scratched at the back of his helm. "Look big bot," he said tiredly as he re-met Omega Supreme's large optics, "can you maybe just talk normally? I didn't understand a word you just said."

Omega Supreme resisted the urge to frown at the miniature mech. "Answer: No. Speech patterns: Non-negotiable."

Jazz just vented another frustrated sigh as his shoulders slumped. "Ah man..." he muttered before abruptly straightening again and turning to the black and white staring at him sternly. "Well come on then Prowler, what's the big bot talkin' about?"

The black and white – Prowler, Omega Supreme thought as he inscribed the designation into his memory banks – gave the smaller mech an all out glare. "I don't know. And quite calling me Prowler or I'll have you cleaning up after the twins for an orn." He snapped.

Omega Supreme opened his mouth to try and explain again (and ask just what the black and white's name was if it wasn't Prowler) when a new voice broke into the conversation.

"He's trying to tell you that as the Guardian of the Cube, Omega Supreme always knows where the AllSpark is. Something in his programming was altered when he was chosen to watch over the Cube, so that he is always attuned to its presence. It's impossible for him to _not _know where it is."

The four mech's turned to see a weary Optimus Prime walking towards them. Even from his superior height, Omega saw the black and white 'Prowler' tense when he saw who it was. For that matter, Prime didn't look especially easy as he joined the other three mechs in the middle of the atrium either.

In mounting surprise, Omega watched as the red and blue mech nodded humbly – almost apologetically Omega thought, although what a Prime would have to be sorry for he couldn't fathom – to the black and white, muttering something the larger mech's audios couldn't quite catch.

The black and white mech stiffened, neck conduits looking like they were about to pop out of his neck...but then he relaxed slightly after hearing whatever it was Prime had to say. He took a moment to process what the Prime had told him, and then gave a terse, but respectful, nod back. He mumbled something in return that sounded like, "Apology accepted," but Omega was _sure _he must have misheard. He'd never known a Prime to apologize before, even when he privately thought they should have.

Not sure what was going on – and to be honest, not really concerned with it since it didn't appear to involve him to any great lengths – Omega Supreme bowed his own head to the Prime as he came to stand with the other three, the slight motion putting strain on his long unused circuits. "Prime." He intoned, his deep voice shaking dust off of the buildings surrounding them.

Prime returned the gesture, but Omega noticed that he looked grimmer than before. When they'd met on the hill outside Tyger Pax, he'd had that look on his face that reminded Omega Supreme of Alchemist Prime whenever he had been in the middle of a particularly stubborn project. But now...now the current Prime looked like he was just going through the motions. Like he had nothing left to hope for.

Omega wondered how long they had been at war for him to have that expression.

The other three either didn't notice the weariness in their leader or else pretended not to. "So yer sayin' it's kinda like a symbiotic bond." The black mech spoke up in a rough voice. "He always knows where the AllSpark is and he looks out for it."

Prime nodded. "That's what I understood from the history articles I read in the Hall of Records." He told him before looking up at Omega Supreme for confirmation.

Omega Supreme nodded slowly again. "Description: Adequate."

The black mech looked confused. "So then why can't ya find it now?"

Omega Supreme frowned. "Answer: Unsure. Omega Supreme: Never experienced lack of AllSpark presence before."

"Well you have been sitting right on top of it for longer than I can count." Jazz pointed out. "Maybe you just got used to bein' so close to it for so long?" He asked rather hopefully.

Omega Supreme thought about that as he inspected his sensors for the umpteenth time. It was true he was a little rusty, but to not sense it at _all_?

"Answer: Improbable."

Jazz shifted his weight to his other foot irritably. "Well then why don't you give us a _probable _answer then?" He snapped.

"Jazz," Optimus Prime stepped in before Omega Supreme could speak, "I realize this is an..." his voice lowered sadly, "impossible situation, but that's no reason to take your anger out on Omega Supreme. He's only trying to help us."

With his blue-tinted visor covering half of his face, it was difficult for Omega Supreme to gage the silver mech's expression. However after a moment of stillness, some of the irritation left Jazz's frame, although the long, vented sigh told Omega Supreme that Jazz still wasn't 'happy'.

Jazz swung his weight to his other foot and looked up at the mech overhead, one hand planted on his hip. "Are ya _sure_ the AllSpark just ain't too far away?" He asked, tone overly hopeful once again.

Omega Supreme shook his head. "Answer: Affirmative. Bond with AllSpark: Dim. Cannot pinpoint Cube's location at present."

The four Autobots vented disappointed sighs. "Isn't there any other explanation of where it could have gone?" Optimus asked. "The AllSpark shouldn't have gone out of your sensor range so quickly, right?"

Omega Supreme looked away in thought. "Assumption: Correct. One remaining explanation: Possible." He admitted carefully.

The four Autobots looked up at him expectantly.

"Well?" Jazz asked loudly when he didn't immediately say anything.

Omega Supreme shuttered his optics and ignored him. He was busy redirecting his sensors. Searching...searching...Yes! There!

He opened his optics again and met the gazes of the four mechs standing near his feet. "Degrading energon signature: Found in trace amounts." He announced.

"Where?" Ironhide asked immediately.

Omega checked his readouts before answering. "Location: Space Bridge 24C-3."

A moment of confused silence followed Omega's words.

"But," Prowl said slowly, "Arcee sent the AllSpark off the planet. How could it have gone through the space bridge?"

"Yeah," Jazz put in, "the bridge is a good quarter way around the planet. The Cube couldn't've crossed its path."

Prime just looked thoughtfully at the air in front of him a moment before slowly looking up at the sky above Omega Supreme.

"I think," he said slowly, "that Omega Supreme is referring to one of the space bridges still orbiting Cybertron."

Ironhide snorted. "Maybe your sensors need tuning after all Supreme. Those space bridges haven't worked since before Sentinel was Prime. They're all just floating space junk now."

Omega Supreme frowned at the black bot, unable to decide if he was lying or just easily confused. But the rest of the Autobots present didn't look any more convinced than he did. Did they really not know?

"One space bridge: Still functional. Power: Limited, but stable."

"But that can't be right." Ironhide muttered, frowning now. "Command was monitoring those things before Megatron came to power. Trying to make contact with some lost satellite maintenance bot or somethin'. Point is, they never could contact the poor mech because the last bridge blinked out on 'em after he went through."

Prowl had that thoughtful look on his faceplates. "Perhaps the AllSpark reactivated one of them when it reached a close enough proximity."

"But-" Jazz for once was at a loss for words, "but those things have been dark for ages! No one could figure out what they use for power. Why'd one of 'em just start workin' now?!" He asked loudly, throwing his hands up for emphasis.

Prowl looked at him calmly. "The AllSpark is a source of raw power." He pointed out. "I would not be surprised if it re-activated a space bridge just because it drifted too close to the AllSpark's path."

"And once it was activated, the AllSpark disappeared through the bridge." Optimus murmured thoughtfully.

"To Primus only knows where!" Jazz shouted.

A moment of silence greeted those words, but in the end, Ironhide said what they were all thinking.

"So, how do we get it back?"

They all looked to Optimus. "I don't know," he said quickly, "I don't know."

But there was a 'yet' implied behind each sentence.

Omega Supreme watched the Prime as his optics quickly moved from side to side, thoughts entering and exiting his processor in quick succession. Now this was a look he was familiar with. Every Prime he'd ever known (and that was considerable more than any other Cybertronian still functioning today) had had that look on his or her faceplates at one time or another. It told Omega that despite the darkness, despite the war, _something _in Optimus Prime was still clinging to the will to fight.

Omega didn't need optics to see how the Prime's reaction had lifted the other mech's spirits. They all stood a little straighter as they waited for him to finish his train of thought.

"Obviously we must retrieve the AllSpark." Optimus finally said, voice firmer than before. "However it is still unclear how long Cybertron can last without it. Before we do anything, we must find out the state of the Core. A team will have to be organized and sent out as soon as possible."

"Yes Prime." The other three snapped out before they turned and headed back to Iacon where the team could be put together and orders sent out through the proper channels.

Before he left, Optimus turned and met the AllSpark guardian's optics. "Thank you Omega Supreme. You've been more helpful than you can know." He told him.

Omega inclined his head to the Prime but didn't say anything as the other mech left, following his officers back inside the city complex.

Omega Supreme didn't move after they'd disappeared. This was just a good a place to sit and think as any, and it was one of the few places he could still fit anyway. Might as well stay out here.

Something was still bothering him, nagging quietly at his processor but refusing to explain itself fully. Hoping for some kind of insight, Omega Supreme craned his head back, taking in the dark sky with thoughtful optics. What was it? What had he not considered?

He shuttered his optics, reaching out for the Cube he had protected for so long. Like before, his bond fell short before he could reach...wherever it was the bridge had deposited the Cube.

It was strange, he reflected, not bothering to withdraw his sense for the Cube. Their connection had never been so dim before. As if it was being diverted to a different-

Omega felt his optics snap open as the nagging thought at the back of his processor became clear. What he had told the others was true; distance didn't matter to a Guardian of the AllSpark when it came to finding the Cube. So why couldn't he locate it now? At first he had blamed the infusion of dark energon, but that didn't quite make sense either. Yes, it would have altered his sense of the Cube, but it would not have destroyed it completely.

Which meant...

Omega Supreme had been in hibernation mode during the Decepticon attack on Tyger Pax and he had not come out of it until the Autobot femme Arcee had sent away the Cube and awakened him. He hadn't felt the Cube being affected by the dark energon attack like he should have. Most likely the Cube hadn't been able to reach him quickly enough through the layers of hibernation code.

And if that was true, then it would have reached out to some other bot. Some bot that could help it faster than Omega Supreme was able to. Which meant in turn...

There was a new AllSpark Guardian.

Omega Supreme felt his optics widen at the implication and then narrow suddenly as he tried to think of what this could mean. There was a special connection between the AllSpark and its creations that continued on even after they were fully grown. No one understood this connection better then the AllSpark's Guardian, which was why in the early days of Cybertron, Guardians also fulfilled the duties of the Lord Protectorate as well, the Prime's most trusted advisor in matters of state.

However Omega Supreme had been created to take on the duties of AllSpark Guardian when the first Lord Protectorate, Liege Maximo, betrayed his brothers and abandoned the AllSpark. To Omega's knowledge, the Lord Protectorates had had nothing to do with the Cube since.

Perhaps that was going to be remedied with the next Guardian.

But obviously the AllSpark had not fully bonded with its new protector. If it had, then Omega Supreme wouldn't have been able to sense the Cube at all. But his own bond with the AllSpark was drastically dimmed, which meant that something had interrupted the AllSpark's bonding with the new Guardian. Either that was the moment it had been shot away to safety or the bot it had chosen had come under attack...

Omega Supreme shuttered his optics again, this time searching for his fellow Guardian rather than for the AllSpark itself. He was close, Omega discerned, but his location was as fuzzy to the large mech as the Cube's location was. No doubt because the bonding process had been cut short. The new Guardian was unmarked and would remain that way until he came back into direct contact with the Cube. He probably didn't even know he _was _a Guardian now.

A stray strand of memory clicked into place. He'd been told – and the recordings he'd taken while in hibernation had confirmed – that that little yellow mech had defended the AllSpark fiercely from Megatron and the dark energon lens. He would have been the closest in proximity to the Cube, which would make him the most likely suspect of who the Cube might have chosen as its new protector.

Omega Supreme narrowed his sensor focus to the medical wing located near the Hall of Records. Now that he knew where to look, he instantly found the trace amounts of Cube energy mixed with the slight taint of dark energon near the back of the complex where the yellow mech was recovering.

No doubt remained in Omega Supreme's spark. That brave yellow mech was the new Guardian of the AllSpark.

Or at least, he would be once the transfer of Guardianship had fully passed from Omega Supreme to the yellow mech. Right now though, he was just as much in the hazy, gray area as Omega Supreme was. Maybe even more so for the yellow mech since he didn't have Omega Supreme's knowledge and experience.

Briefly, Omega wondered if he should tell Prime about this, but in the end decided that it might be best if he didn't. The yellow mech most likely hadn't realized what had happened to him in the temple and Omega didn't feel it was his place to tell him. One orbit he would realize who he was, and on that orbit Omega Supreme would gladly hand over the duties of the AllSpark protector to his successor, but right now-

Right now he would continue to accept the responsibility and let the yellow mech recover in peace.

...

Word of the online space bridge and what it could mean for the near future of the Autobots spread through Iacon like a gasoline-fueled fire. Nathanial found he couldn't walk across the building without hearing more rumors about what Prime was planning to do with this new asset. Would he send a small party through after the AllSpark? Would he destroy it so that the Decepticons couldn't go searching for it instead?

"No way," one of the Wreckers said to the bot that had just mumbled the last theory in dejection, "If Prime destroys that bridge then there won't be a way for _us_ to find the AllSpark and bring it back either. No, _my_ bet," he said leaning closer to his friend, "is that he'll send a small party through to bring back energon. That way we can still hold off the 'cons _and _get a fuel supply line going."

Nathanial didn't say anything, but he thought finding a stable energon source quick enough to matter was about as likely as Nexus Prime appearing through the new bridge and wiping out the Decepticons with a wave of his hand.

No, Nat knew there was only one reasonable path left to the bots now that they had a working, reliable space bridge, but he would be hanged if he was the one to point it out to them. He was already in enough trouble with them as it was.

From behind him, Peg nudged his shoulder. _"When do you think they'll figure out the right answer?" _She asked him silently.

Nathanial briefly looked back at her, then shrugged as he faced the front again. With the medical bay being so busy, he thought it was best to move her and their equipment someplace more out of the way. "Don't know Peg." He told her.

_"Why don't you tell them?" _She asked, not for the first time.

Nathanial sighed heavily. _"Because I already know they don't want to hear it Peg. Not from me."_

Peg just snorted. _"You think too much of yourself." _She told him crossly before falling quiet again, the rhythmic clang of her hooves getting lost in the general noise around them.

"Hey! Hey human!" A voice called out suddenly from the muttering crowd.

_"Point in case." _Nathanial thought to Peg grimly as they both turned to see who was shouting at them now. He fully expected to find more glares and heated words flung in his direction. What he did _not _expect was the sight of two young Seekers racing towards him from the far end of the room.

_"Flying Autobots?" _Peg thought in confusion.

Nat frowned at them as they approached. _"Yes Peg, flying Autobots. Mirage told us they were stationed in the mountains. Near that city built by fliers."_

_ "Vos." _Peg told him when he couldn't think of the proper name.

Nathanial nodded. _"Right." _He frowned at the two mechs coming towards them. _"Don't think I've ever seen these two around when Silverbolt and the others showed up though."_

Peg whuffled and swung her head up and down in agreement.

Nathanial frowned at them thoughtfully, watching as they approached. These two particular Seekers looked fairly young, around Val and Bumblebee's age. The closest one – the one shouting from across the room and waving his hand over his head to get Nat's attention – was largely white with red accents, including two bright red speed lines painted on his wings.

The other one – who was thankfully quieter and following at a slower pace – was painted a thunderhead gray with medium blue wings, boots, and armor. Nathanial noticed he had his own identifying wing-mark; a puffy gray cloud with a lightning bolt zig-zagging out of its flat underside.

They were both sharply angled for high speeds, with tall rocket boots built for keeping them in the air even in robot mode, and had square-ish helms in their respective colors.

_"Nope," _Peg thought, _"I would definitely remember seeing them before."_

Nathanial nodded his agreement, but he still felt like he should recognize the two somehow.

It wasn't until Peg nudged his shoulder again and asked, _"Didn't Aria say something about Seeker brothers that one time?" _that he realized who they must be.

Not really eager for more brotherly torments, Nat quickly turned around and made a beeline for the nearest door, pulling Peg along with him.

"Hey! Hey new guy!" Fastlane called, waving an arm to try and get Nathanial's attention.

"Wait up already Nat!" Cloudraker called next to his brother.

Nathanial sighed when they caught up with him before he could make it to the door. He looked up to see them both looking down on him with relatively open expressions on their faces. On the contrary, Nat's own brown eyes showed next to no emotion as he looked up at the two young mechs now crouched down in front of him.

"Hi Nat!" The blue one said more cheerily then Nathanial was comfortable with. "I'm Cloudraker, but you can call me Cloud if you like. Most everyone does. And this is Fastlane-"

"But everyone calls me Fastlane." The one with red accents said with a grin.

Cloudraker continued as if he hadn't heard his brother. "We're Aria's brothers. And we've kinda been looking all over for you." He finished after first gesturing to himself, then his brother, before finally falling silent again.

Nathanial waited for one of them to go on, but they just blinked down at him, smiling pleasantly.

"Can I help you with something?" He finally asked when they didn't say anything else.

The brothers looked at each other, then back at Nathanial.

"Well yeah, of course." Fastlane told him.

"What? You think we just wanted to come over and ask you about the weather or something?" Cloudraker added.

Nathanial didn't respond to their snappy comebacks.

Fastlane shot Cloudraker another look, this one more worried than before.

::Yeesh, he's got it worse than I thought.:: Fastlane said via silent pulsewave.

Cloudraker just nodded. ::And Aria's got it just as bad. No wonder she's in such awful shape.::

Fastlane slowly nodded in agreement.

Nathanial just waited quietly for them to finish their silent conversation.

"So," Fastlane said with fake cheer as he turned back to Nathanial, "we were kinda hoping you could tell us what's going on."

Nathanial blinked once. "Could you be just a little more specific there?" He asked before throwing his arms out to either side, some of his sarcasm coming to the surface. "Unless being in the middle of a war with new developments coming to light every other orbit doesn't count for anything?"

Fastlane just laughed. "Oh good, there's some life left in there after all." He said, prodding Nat with one finger in what was meant as a friendly way. Nat however, just frowned up at the young mech as he stumbled backwards into Peg. "Here I was beginning to think you were one of those human 'not-dead' things. What're they called Cloud'? Mommies?"

Cloudraker didn't sigh like he usually would have. "They're called Zombies, Fastlane. And the term is 'undead'. So your name's Nat right?" He asked, peering rather intently at the organic mech standing in front of them with his...thing.

"It's Nathanial," the man corrected automatically, but then a small hint of confusion appeared in his dark eyes. "Where did you hear it was Nat?"

Cloudraker looked over at Fastlane. Fastlane looked over at Cloudraker.

"Well," Cloudraker said when they had turned back again, "that's what Jie Mei calls you."

Nathanial frowned, trying to wrap this around his brain. A small part of him wondered if that meant anything.

"And speaking of Aria," Fastlane said, bringing them back to the point of this little conversation, "what happened between you and her that's got you acting like a mommy-"

"Zombie." Cloudraker automatically corrected.

"-and her looking weepy-eyed all orbit?" Fastlane finished, taking his brother's correction in stride.

Nathanial sighed and scrubbed at his face with his free hand. After all that mess with Val and Bumblebee _now _he met the nice brothers. And just at the perfect time where their understanding and general interest in him made him want to crawl into a corner and die.

"That last one probably has more to do with Bumblebee than me." He muttered, not meeting their optics.

The Seekers looked at each other again before staring back down at Nat. "Well, yeah." Fastlane said in a more subdued voice at the mention of their wounded friend. "She's about wrung herself out worrying over 'Bee. But when we try and bring _you_ up, she tries to light us on fire with her optics." He flung his hands out explosively before resting them again on his knees. "It's very scary."

Cloudraker just nodded slowly.

Nat attempted to do the same for a moment, but eventually relapsed into sullen glaring instead. "Thanks a lot." He muttered. "I'm already in enough trouble with her without you bringing it up every other cycle and reminding her." He grumbled sullenly.

"And we're bringing up _what_ exactly...?" Cloudraker asked him slowly in a not so subtle attempt at fishing for information.

Nathanial sighed and hung his head for a brief second. "You're not going to let this go are you?" He asked them both with a hard frown.

"Nope!" Fastlane replied, down right perky as he smacked a determined fist into his open hand. "Jie Mei says we're worse than carrion!"

"Terriers." Cloudraker corrected without so much as batting an optic shutter.

Fastlane's smile didn't falter. "Yeah that."

Before Nat could think of some way to reply to this, Peg nudged him from behind.

_"Better just tell them before they grin you to death." _She told him. _"And besides, they'll only hear it from someone else if you don't. And the story will have grown much worse by then."_

Nat just sighed again. She had a point. Already he'd heard bots saying he'd meant for this happen. It might be better to just tell Cloudraker and Fastlane what had actually happened before everyone started to say that he'd been in league with the Decepticons all along.

"I brought the dark energon lens here." He told them rigidly. "My unit and I were transporting it to the capitol city when Megatron beamed the dang thing – and us –" he gestured to Peg and himself, "here to Cybertron. It was precious cargo and I hid it. I didn't tell anyone here it existed. Megatron found it while I was away, made dark energon, and then single handedly began to kill off life as everyone here knows it." He told them quickly.

Cloudraker blinked, taking that in. "Okay..." he drew the word out.

Fastlane just scratched at his helm with a digit. "Wait wait wait." He said rather quickly as if he was still trying to puzzle everything out. "You brought _it_ here or it brought _you_ here?"

Nathanial looked away, remembering what Optimus had said but still not sure if it was actually true. "I don't know." He told them tiredly. "Optimus seems to think that Megatron brought the lens here and Peg and I are just extra baggage, but-"

"Well that makes sense." Cloudraker put in with a thoughtful nod. "It'd be just like Megatron to go after some super power source just hanging around on someone else's planet." He nodded again as if that proved his sound conclusion.

"Hey!" Fastlane frowned and elbowed his brother, nearly sending Cloud to the floor. "It's an evil plot! Don't sound so pleased with it."

Cloudraker's wobbling balance finally lost the fight with gravity and the blue and gray Seeker landed oh-so-gracefully on his backside on the floor. He scowled over at his brother. "I'm not pleased with it!" He defended himself. "I just said it made sense is all." He paused a moment. "Devious, evil, and a pain in the aft to deal with, but it makes sense."

"Yeah, well," Fastlane mumbled, "it's still an evil plot."

Cloudraker just shook his head as he straightened up on the floor. Nathanial watched as he crossed his legs, rested his elbow on his knees, and then propped his chin in his hands so he could look down at Nat and Peg without getting a kink in his neck.

"What I don't get," he said once he was situated, "is what this has to do with Jie Mei. If Megatron hadn't gone after the lens, _you_ wouldn't be here. I would'a thought _that_ would make her at least a little sad."

Nathanial looked away again, choosing instead to focus on a little cluster of bots standing across the room muttering to each other rather than the two mechs in front of him. They were probably talking about news of the space bridge and the fate of Cybertron if their stiff postures were anything to go by.

It took Nat a few minutes to realize that the young Seekers hadn't said anything else. He glanced up at them furtively, hoping to go unnoticed, but they were both watching him expectantly, so so much for that idea.

Nathanial gave an explosive sigh. "She blames me for bringing the lens here and almost getting you killed alright?!" He snapped, throwing out a hand to point at Cloudraker. "Because _I _had the lens with me, it must obviously be _my _fault it's here in the first place. And because _I _brought the lens, all the dark energon is _my _fault. Which means losing the AllSpark and the state of Cybertron is – you guessed – all my doing too!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Fastlane said, holding his hands out in front of him as if that could deflect Nathanial's sudden rant. "Baggage alert!"

Nathanial somehow managed to clamp his teeth around the rest of the words wanting to fly out of his mouth. Frustrated with himself as much as anything for his sudden loss of control, he ran a hand roughly through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles. He stuck his other hand on his hip and shifted his weight back and forth between his legs, resisting the urge to just turn around and walk away.

Fastlane was still watching him rather curiously. "Dude," he said in a quieter voice, "this is really eating at you isn't it?"

Nathanial didn't answer, but before Fastlane had a chance to notice, his brother just asked, "What was that about me almost dying?"

Fastlane's head snapped to his brother. "Are you serious?" He asked, optic ridges practically touching his helm. "A big, scary psychopath tries to kill you and _you don't remember_?" He asked rather loudly.

Cloudraker just stared into space for a moment. Then realization dawned. "Oh..." he said slowly, "_that_. Right."

Fastlane just face palmed. "And people think _I_ have a short attention span." He grumbled.

Cloudraker frowned. "Hey, we've dealt with a bunch of psycho-fliers since then. Forgive me if I forgot one."

"Forgotone?" Fastlane asked incredulously. "You almost got _slagged _bro!"

Nathanial tuned out the growing argument as the brothers started to talk loudly at the same exact time. Instead he turned and watched the three mechs he'd seen earlier. It looked like things were starting to get out of hand over there as well.

"Don't be such a glitch Clamp." A broad-shouldered mech with orange accents was saying to a smaller, yellowish mech standing next to him. "No one's running out of energon. Things aren't _that_ bad."

The yellowish mech wrung his hands together worriedly, something Nathanial got the impression he did fairly often. "But without the AllSpark, there won't be any new energon reservoirs. And if there isn't any new reservoirs, then we're going to run out of energon!" He said quickly, stopping with a nervous little squeak and an extra wring of his hands.

The lanky, green mech standing between the two others nodded at Clamp's words, but the only anxiety on his face were the small lines around his optics. "He's got a point Burner." He told the orange-lined mech in a deep voice that only half matched his thin frame.

Burner dismissed his worry with a wave of his hand. "So we'll all have to tighten our belts some. Not like we haven't been doing that anyway Sprite."

Sprite, the green one, remained unconvinced. "But before now there's always been energon buried deeper in the planet. It's taken more energy and time to get to it, but it was there. We've never run _out_ before."

Clamp gave another nervous squeak.

"We'll have to leave!" He suddenly cracked, his voice pitching upwards in his sudden terror. "Have to leave Cybertron! Never come back! Never go home!"

From the semi-calm looks on the other mech's faces, Nat thought that this wasn't the first breakdown Clamp had ever had. Sprite put a hand on the smaller mech's shoulder, telling him quite calmly that things had never been as bad as he'd made them out to be before. Burner just huffed an annoyed vent of air and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You are such a glitch." He muttered again. "No one's _leaving_ Cybertron."

Clamp's optics were now twice their original size. "But energon-Megatron-dark cons!" He stuttered, voice getting squeakier with each half finished exclamation.

Burner just shook his head, looking nonplussed. "We'll take 'em. Just like we always have. And if Prime is so weak that he can't find another way through this and orders everyone off planet –" he snorted again to show what he thought of that, "—well then he can leave _without _me."

Something in Nathanial gave a little snap at that. Ignoring Fastlane and Cloudraker, he spun on his heel and stomped over to the three mechs on the other side of the room. He distantly heard Peg call something behind him, but he ignored her too. He was tired to listening to this neon colored mech vent hot air. What right did Burner have to talk about Prime like that? After everything he'd sacrificed to keep the Autobots online?

"Then you'll die." Nathanial told Burner loudly once he was close enough. "And fat lot of good you would be to anyone _then_." He snapped.

The three mechs looked up at the interruption to find a small, glaring organic standing near their feet. Clamp immediately gave a frightened squeak and hopped away from Nathanial, half hiding behind Sprite. Burner and Sprite just looked down in polite interest, one more so than the other.

"Where'd you come from?" Sprite asked.

Burner was too busy glaring at Nat to even hear the mech next to him. "Oh yeah small fry? And what makes _you _such an expert?"

But Nathanial saw his optics start to widen with recognition before he'd even finished asking the question. "Wait a nano-klik," Burner muttered, "you're that other organic!" His irritated frown turned into an all out fiery glare. "You're the reason we're in this mess to start with!"

Nathanial resisted the urge to look away as the guilt rose again. Instead he made himself meet Burner's optics. "Regardless of my part in this," he said in as calm a voice as he could find, "the fact is that the AllSpark's gone. And Megatron's going to turn the rest of the energon into dark energon sooner rather than later – _if _he hasn't done it already.

"Now someway, somehow, you've all been given a way out. None of you _have _to die because of dark energon. You want my advice? You go through that space bridge before it conks out on you again and get the frack out of here before you don't have a choice anymore."

Nathanial could feel every optic pinned to him. Even Fastlane and Cloudraker had stopped their bickering and were staring at him from behind. It wasn't until Clamp's distressed whine broke the air that anyone spoke.

"And go _where?_" Burner demanded loudly to make up for his moment of stunned silence. "You think energon just grows on organic trees? The chances are one-in-a-million that we'd find a planet with energon _before_ we all offlined. No," he shook his head stubbornly, "I'm staying here no matter what anyone else says."

Nathanial's frown deepened. "Then there's a one hundred percent chance that you'll be dead before the stellar cycle is out."

Burner scowled at him a klik longer before breaking eye contact and re-crossing his arms with a harsh vent.

Clamp had calmed down enough to look between the orange-striped mech and the small organic. "But," he stammered slightly, "Cybertron is home."

Nathanial's guilt prodded him again and he had the silent thought that it was somehow mocking him. "I know. And I'm _sorry_." He said, fervently hoping they believed him because it was true. "But if you stay here, you won't survive. If you leave now, you'll at least have a chance out there."

Clamp's whole frame sagged. He had always known he wasn't very brave, but he'd made it through all these stellar cycles because he honestly believed that one orbit, things would be better again. But this? To just _leave_ Cybertron-

"And it's not like Transformers have never done this before." Nathanial quickly continued, tired of seeing that hopeless look on everyone's faceplates. "Nexus Prime made it all the way to my planet. And to be honest, it's not even _our_ planet." He admitted. "My ancestors left Earth a long time ago and have been intermittently roaming space ever since. There are things out there – peoples, cities, empires – that you wouldn't believe!" He insisted.

Clamp did not look convinced. "Everyone knows Nexus Prime didn't really exist. He's just a story." He mumbled, looking rather like a kicked puppy.

Nathanial tried again. "Well what about the colonists?" He asked, abruptly remembering there had been colonists. "They must have ended up somewhere. They were sent out during the golden age. Surely some of them survived."

"Unless they couldn't find energon either." Clamp mumbled morosely.

None of them wanted to linger on that in case it was true. Nathanial was on the brink of giving up on the miserable bot when a voice broke over the loudspeakers over head.

_"Attention Autobots," _Blaster's voice came solemnly over the speakers, _"in five cycles Prime is goin' to be speaking on recent...happenings down in the great hall in the Hall of Records. For those that can't make it, I'll be broadcastin' on a Autobot-wide transmission. Thanks and, uh, see ya there."_

There was an audible click as Blaster turned off the speaker system.

Nathanial looked up just in time to see Burner glare down at him. "Now you'll see squishy. Prime's not gonna give up Cybertron." He muttered as he stomped away towards the hall where Prime would address the Autobots. With a nervous look at each other, then down at Nathanial, Sprite and Clamp followed him.

Without Burner's antagonistic presence, Nat felt most of the annoyance drain out of him, leaving him feeling sore and tired. With a sigh, he rubbed at the bridge of his nose, hoping to avoid the headache he felt coming on.

"Well," Fastlane said as he and Cloudraker came up behind him, "you sure told him."

Nat was a little surprised to hear that Fastlane sounded strangely proud of him. He looked up at the red and white Seeker – who was still grinning, although it was more subdued than before – just as Peg came up and nosed his arm. Without thinking, he put it over her neck.

"What do you think Prime's going to say?" Cloudraker asked. Unlike his brother, he sounded much more anxious.

_"At least one of them uses his processor." _Peg thought at her human.

Nathanial managed a weak smile at that, but it didn't last long.

"I don't know," Fastlane admitted, "but we'd better get moving if we want a decent place to stand. Come on Nat," he waved him to follow as he and Cloudraker turned towards the nearest door, "you can stand with Cloud and me. You're alright in my codex. I don't know _what_ Val was talking about."

Cloud just shrugged as he fell into step with his brother. "You know how Val is about Aria. Probably just had a mini lapse in judgment."

Fastlane snorted. "You mean he freaked out."

"That's what I said." Cloudraker retorted in frustration.

Shaking his head at the two of them, Nat led Peg back into the center of the building to hear whatever it was Optimus Prime had to say to them.

...

The Hall of Records was packed beyond capacity not a cycle after Blaster's announcement. From his place at the head of the room, Optimus swept his optics over the oddly silent crowd. For a brief nano-klik, he reflected on how long he had known these bots, how they'd been together through the victories and the defeats until, finally, the road had led them here.

He resisted the urge to cycle air through his vents. With the Autobots as quiet as they were, the sound would only echo through the room and he didn't think the nervous sound would make anyone feel better.

As the time drew near for him to speak, he looked at the other bots at the head of the room. Ultra Magnus was standing in his usual place behind his left shoulder, his face not giving away anything he might be feeling. Jazz was standing even farther off, leaning hip and shoulder against the wall, arms loosely crossed over his chest as he took in the crowd of anxious Autobots.

To Prime's other side, Prowl was busy checking things off on his data pad, preparing for what was coming by taking solace in the safety of his routine. Ironhide, standing up straight with his balance equally shared between both feet, stood facing the crowd. Like Jazz, he had his arms crossed over his chassis, but the difference in stance made him much more intimidating, and to Optimus' mind, more reassuring as well.

Ratchet was seated near the window, a withdrawn expression on his faceplates that didn't leave when Prime looked over at him. After everything that had happened – not just to the Autobots in general, but to the medic personally – Optimus wasn't quite sure he wanted to know what the chief medic was mulling over so deeply.

Prowl chose that time to look up from his data pad. "We're ready." He said simply.

Optimus nodded at him, and then took a measured step forward. The movement immediately grabbed the crowd's attention, and the few mumblings that had persisted disappeared in a wave that swept toward the back of the room.

"Autobots," Optimus enunciated carefully in greeting, "I have called you all here to explain, as best I can, the series of events that have befallen us since Tyger Pax.

You all know that the AllSpark was lost to us during the battle of Tyger Pax, a sacrifice that cost us greatly, and is still taking its toll. Already Megatron has taken advantage of the Cube's absence to darken the remaining energon reservoirs on Cybertron. And if he is not stopped, possibly all future reservoirs as well."

A muttered wave of fear swept through the crowd. A wave which stopped when Optimus held up his hands, asking for silence.

"Before we do anything though," he said loudly, his voice echoing through the packed chamber, "we must discern the state of the Core."

Another, more fervent wave of muttering appeared, one which his up raised hands could not completely stop.

"But no one's been to the Core since before the war!" One voice broke above the others. "You'd have to go through the Underworld to get to it!"

The anxious mutterings grew louder. "I realize that this is a dangerous objective." Optimus said over the gasps and murmured anxieties. "That is why I am asking for volunteers to accompany me into the Underworld to the very center of Cybertron. If the Core is still intact, then there may be something we can do to ensure Cybertron's survival. If it has been corrupted as well..."

He couldn't find a way to end that sentence that would not strip them of their remaining, feeble hope altogether, but then he didn't need to. They all knew what it would mean for Cybertron if Megatron had darkened the Core along with the energon.

Optimus turned slightly to indicate the mech standing to his right. "Ironhide has already volunteered. Who will join us?"

For the first time since bots had begun gathering in the long room, utter silence reigned. Then-

"I'll go."

Heads turned toward the mech that had spoken near the back of the room. He had his hand half raised so Prime could see him over the crowd and all the attention seemed to be making him nervous.

Fastlane stared at his brother like he'd grown a second head. "Cloud are you _nuts?" _He whispered, but in the silence, everyone could hear him anyway. "Don't you know what's down there?"

Cloudraker met his brother's worried optics. "Yeah, a little. When the adults split us up, Cloudcover and I ended up near the Kaon border. It was too dangerous to practice flying in the air, so we used the Underworld tunnels instead." He turned towards Optimus and raised his voice to be heard. "I don't know about the tunnels around here, but near Kaon there are a lot of collapsed walkways. I can get to places ground-based alt-modes can't. And I can fly through those tunnels with my optics down sir. I know how to avoid most of the nasties that live down there too. I've never been as deep as the Core, but I figure there's a first time for everything."

His embarrassment at being in the spotlight made him shrug one shoulder and look away, hoping everyone would stop staring at him soon.

Optimus nodded. "Indeed Cloudraker." He told him before looking at the crowd of bots again. "Who else?"

"Me. I'm going too."

Heads turned again at the voice, only this time instead of a mech, optics lighted on a small, but stubborn, organic femme.

"There's no telling if those tunnels are still standing." Aria said, "If they've collapsed and you guys can't get through then I probably can. I'll go."

Optimus felt his optics narrow. He was sorely tempted to say no. The creatures that lived down in the Underworld were nothing to tamper with. Bad tempered and well armed, they were a fallback to the baser creatures that had inhabited Cybertron before the Transformers had spread out over the surface of the planet.

But Aria had a point, and they couldn't really afford to refuse volunteers at this point.

"I'll go," Nathanial said suddenly, even taking himself somewhat by surprise, "if you will have me."

Heads turned for a third time, but unlike before, there was a great deal more trepidation in the room. No one wanted to trust the fate of their planet to the organic that had brought its doom in his pocket.

"Please," Nathanial asked them, "I know I've failed you all once already. Let me try and make it right."

Silence. Nathanial was slightly relieved there were no outcries for his head, but at the same time the lack of sound unnerved him.

Optimus, however, simply nodded. "You do not need to prove anything to me Nathanial Hawthorne, however your assistance is greatly appreciated."

_"Not by everyone." _Nathanial thought, sneaking a look at Aria. She was stubbornly refusing to look at him at the moment.

Optimus waited a cycle for anyone else to raise their hand, but when none came, he let go of a core-deep sigh. "Very well." He said softly. "We will return as quickly as we can. I thank you all for coming. Til all are one."

"Til all are one." The Autobots repeated back, some more firmly than others.

After saying goodbye to Fastlane – "See ya in a few bro." Cloud had told him, clapping Fastlane on the back – Nathanial and Cloudraker made their way to the front of the room as the rest of the bots filed out to return to their duties. The other three were already there, waiting for them.

Optimus took a moment to look at each of the four beings brave enough to join him to the Underworld and – Primus willing – the Core.

"Autobots," he told them gravely, "we roll out in five. I suggest you prepare yourselves accordingly."

It was going to be an interesting trip.


	34. Chapter 34: What Lies Beneath

Well editing obviously took a little longer then I expected...sorry about that. I really wish I'd gotten this up yesterday, but once again my brain wouldn't focus for _nothing_. That and I also may have gotten sucked into playing Transformers Legends all night...n_n; But here's a nice long chapter to make it up to you! The past few weeks have been...weird so...yeah.

Thank you though to Flarefox, Fallen Angel 1243, Cloud-Dancer103, Autobot-Bre, Bee4ever, and PepperCornPie for your reviews though! And everyone else who favorited and such. It made these last few weeks a little bit brighter overall, so thank you all so much!

I hope you like the newest installment of _The Long Road Home_ and I hope you'll all review! We're almost to 300! o.O Now there's something worth boggling at! x3

...

The Long Road Home

34 – What Lies Beneath – 34

There were lots of entrances to the Underworld, little holes that seemed to appear out of nowhere over night. Dank, shadowy openings that were revealed after buildings had collapsed that not even the Decepticons went near. But the most direct way to the Core lay through the Well of AllSparks.

Aria sat stiffly in Ironhide's passenger seat as they approached the edge of the chasm that marked the Well of AllSparks. The long drive had been silent and she knew without having to ask that everyone was on edge. The Well didn't have any tactical advantage after it had sealed itself off in the early stages of the war, so technically they were out in no-man's land. But that didn't make it any less dangerous than going directly into Decepticon territory. The 'cons liked to come out here occasionally, looking for any neutrals that might be seeking safety near the Well of AllSparks.

But so far they hadn't picked up any other life forms. Even the few animals that were still clinging to life out here didn't come near the Well. Like they thought it was unnatural for the Well to be shut. Or they were afraid of whatever else might be lurking around at the bottom of the chasm.

Aria shuddered. Even after being with the bots all this time, she'd never heard them mention any Underworld before. And her imagination was running rampant with creepy, crawly things as she wondered what could possibly be so bad that it creeped the Autobots out to this extent.

Aria finally couldn't stand the silence any longer. "So what's with this Underworld place?" She whispered to Ironhide, unable to shake the feeling that she should keep her voice down. "Why's everyone so scared to even go down there?"

She felt Ironhide 'look' at her as he rolled across the rough terrain, making Aria bounce and jolt where she sat. Not for the first time she wished that the Transformers had invented seat belts for...whatever kind of passengers their alt-modes had been designed for.

"It's not so much the place," Ironhide told her, also keeping his voice low, "as what's living down there."

Aria waited, trying to find a good grip on the dash so she wouldn't be bounced into the window again, but Ironhide didn't elaborate quick enough for her liking.  
>"So," she asked expectantly, "what's down there?"<p>

A deep throated, "Hrmmm..." went through the cab as Ironhide debated whether he should tell her this now or if it would only scare her into not going down at all.

"There are lots of stories," he finally said, figuring that she should at least have an idea of what she was getting herself into, "some bots say that they're Transformers whose sparks got sucked into the Underworld before they got out of the Well. Others say that it's only the bad sparks that get pulled down there. Some of the old timers even think that the things down there were the first creations of Primus."

Aria raised her eyebrows at the steering wheel. "Older than _you_?" She asked.

Ironhide gave her a somewhat sarcastic rumble of laughter. "Watch it short stuff." He growled without any real anger. But he sobered quickly. "The only thing anyone seems to agree on is that they're...terrible. Monsters living down in the subterranean levels of the planet. No one goes down there if they can help it."

Aria looked up and out the window at the dry, barren scenery rolling past them. "Great..." she mumbled, "I mean, if the Well of AllSparks didn't shunt Megatron's spark down there in the first place, what kind of psychos _did _it send away?"

Ironhide was silent for a moment. "...I try not to think about that." He eventually admitted.

Aria tried to think of what kind of creature in the known universe could scare a bot like Ironhide, and immediately regretted it.

She swallowed hard. "But you've been down there before right? Have you ever seen one of these...monsters?"

"Not up close." Ironhide told her. "I was only called down a handful of times when I was in Praxus, and that was only when some bot disappeared and others were saying that they'd been dragged away by the creatures."

"Were they?" Aria asked hesitantly.

"Nah," Ironhide told her, "nine times out of ten it was just bots gettin' hysterical. Most of the time it was the usual kind of criminal you'd expect. Kidnappers and murders, things like that. Though there were a couple 'a runaways too."

Aria watched him nervously. "M-most of the time?"

Ironhide heaved a sigh, but then they hit a pothole and the sound was cut off short. Ironhide grunted at the impact and Aria's head hit the top of the cab with a loud smack.

"First time I was ever called down there," Ironhide went on as Aria rubbed at her head, "a kid and his mech creator disappeared around the mouth of a cave entrance that connected with the Underworld farther down. We found the kid maybe 'bout," he made a thoughtful noise, "half-mile into the cave. He was hidin' out behind a cluster of stalagmites, jumpin' at every shadow. Screamed at first when he saw us." He mumbled, remembering the state the youngling had been in when they'd finally found him after almost a day and a half of searching.

"And his dad?" Aria asked after a moment.

Ironhide shook himself slightly, nearly sending Aria into the window again, as he came back to the present. "His frame wasn't far away." He told her darkly. "Looked like it'd been torn to pieces by something."

Aria cringed, looking slightly sick at the idea.

"Anyway," Ironhide said after another silent moment of remembering, "even after we got the youngen out of there, he kept insisting some sort of monster had attacked them. Apparently they had gone hiking around the cave mouth and somethin' came chargin' at them from behind. They tried to hide in the cave, but the monster-thing got the mech. The kid hid while the thing was...busy."

Aria grimaced, feeling sorry for the youngling. "So..." she asked slowly, not really wanting to finish the question because she felt a little foolish asking about the Cybertronian equivalent of Big Foot or the Chupacabra or whatever the heck this was.

She felt Ironhide look at her. "So what?" He asked tightly.

Aria hunched over slightly in her seat, leaning closer to the dash as she whispered. "You know. Did you..." she lowered her voice more, "see anything?"

Ironhide seemed to blink, despite the fact that he was a truck. "Oh." He grumbled as he avoided another patch of bumpy ground. "No, none of us saw any monsters."

But there had been a shadow on the back of the cave wall. A lean, tall shadow of a hunched over form with scraggly arms and legs that ended in what had looked to be knife-shaped claws. That, and a noise that they had told themselves was just the wind rushing towards the back of the cave.

Ironhide shook himself again, putting the thought firmly to the side. He was being ridiculous. There were no such things as monsters. There were only cruel bots and weak processors that would believe anything.

They were close to the Well of AllSparks now and they spent the rest of the drive in silence, each member of the small party keeping a careful eye out for any Decepticons, or anything else that just might happen to be out there.

Optimus called a halt when they reached the edge of the chasm. Aria climbed out of Ironhide's cab, her feet hitting the dusty gravel with a crunch before she backed away to give the black mech enough room to transform.

As Optimus and Ironhide found their feet, Aria craned her neck back to look at the sky overhead, shielding her eyes with a hand despite the gray light that surrounded them. For a long cycle she didn't see anything except flat gray sky, but then a small speck of movement caught her attention. She focused on the darker colored speck as it wheeled lower and lower in large sweeping loops until it eventually materialized into the winged form of Peg, Nathanial sitting behind her wiry neck.

As they continued their descent, Cloudraker appeared through the heavy clouds as well, his blue accents standing out brightly against the dull sky. Unlike Peg and Nathanial, he came down in a more or less straight line, transforming at the last instant and hitting the ground with a muted thud, boots first. Peg wasn't far behind him, landing with a couple back sweeps of her wings to kill her forward momentum.

As Nathanial dismounted, Aria looked away, frowning as she carefully looked over the side of the chasm. She tried to focus solely on the uneven cut in the ground that housed the Well of AllSparks, but some part of her was still aware of the other human as he and Peg drifted closer to inspect the Well with her.

Once she actually _saw _the state the Well was in though, she felt her spark-heart sink into her stomach. The one and only time she'd seen the Well of AllSparks was ingrained so deep into her memory that she still remembered it like it was yesterday. The fear as she fell over the edge, dragged down by a malicious mini-con, her long trek through the red-tinted darkness of the Well, the marvel at finding the spark chamber, finding the younglings' seven sparks and little Bluestreak hiding down in the caverns.

The memory was so strong that for a moment she felt the heat of the lava hitting her face, making her sweat.

But the molten river of metal had dried up since she'd last been here, leaving behind an ash gray cut in the ground, dry and dead like the rest of Cybertron.

Aria tried not to shake at the sight. Of course she had heard that the Well was closed. She had just never realized what that meant until now.

Next to her, Nathanial was inspecting the chasm as well, but with more purpose than Aria. "There," he said, pointing at something to Aria's left, "I take it that's our entrance?"

Slowly, Aria closed her eyes and made herself turn away from the dried up Well. She followed Nat's finger to the far end of the chasm and found herself blinking in surprise.

"Huh," she mumbled, "never noticed _that_ before."

_That_ was, in fact, a giant crack in the far end of the chasm, near what she supposed had once been the source of the Well of AllSparks. 'Crack' was a misleading name because it was still tall enough that Omega Supreme could have fit through it quite comfortably if he'd been here, but otherwise it looked like just any other ragged hole you would find in the side of a cliff.

But it gave Aria the creeps. Maybe it was Ironhide's story, maybe it was her own wild imagination, but goose bumps rose up on her arms and she shivered, suddenly cold.

Nathanial must have noticed because he suddenly said, "Here, you can have my jacket if you're cold."

She had been so focused on the Well and the cave and the idea of the Underworld that Aria had forgotten he was standing that close to her. She startled, spinning around with wide eyes, the sudden change in balance nearly sending her toppling backwards into the dried up Well. Both Nat and Peg jumped forward, Nathanial snagging her wrist as Peg clamped onto Aria's shirt with her teeth. Between the two of them, Aria managed to keep her feet on the solid ground instead of flying backwards into empty air.

Still anchored by Peg and Nathanial, she carefully looked over her shoulder just in time to see a few small rocks go bouncing along the steep side of the cliff.

Heart pounding at the thought that that could have been her, Aria quickly stumbled away from the edge, yanking her hand and body away from the other human and techno-organic.

She was shivering all over now. She'd been terrified of heights since she's fallen out of a window when she was three, but after living with the bots for so long, she'd gotten used to dealing with them. Now though... Now she wanted to crawl into a two-dimensional universe and never come back.

"Sorry, Aria, sorry," she eventually registered Nathanial's voice. She looked up and saw he looked almost as shaken as she did as he tried to struggle the rest of the way out of his jacket.

She swallowed past a dry mouth. "Keep it," she told him, "it's probably hot down there anyway."

She didn't realize she'd snapped until after she'd said anything, but her heart was busy trying to crawl its way out her throat so she didn't get a chance to say anything else.

With a miserable little groan, she sank down to the ground and put her head down to try and get rid of the dizziness that was currently making her head spin. Her hearing felt slightly distorted as she heard Nathanial tell Optimus that he would take Peg down into the chasm to check out the surroundings.

She didn't say anything until after she'd heard the creak of leather and flap of wings that meant Peg and Nat had disappeared into the Well.

"Oh Lord," she mumbled breathlessly, one hand pressed over her rapidly thumping heart, "I hate heights."

"Yeah," Cloudraker said, sounding a little surprised, "we noticed."

"Are ya sure it was the height that scared ya?" Ironhide asked.

Aria frowned up at him, daring to lift her head away from the safety of the ground. Was he...mad at her?

"He took me by surprise is all." She grumbled defensively. "I forgot he was there."

Ironhide snorted. Obviously he thought there was more to it than that. "If you don't think you can handle bein' around him Aria-" he started.

"Now wait just a minute!" Aria cut him off as she climbed, still somewhat shakily, to her feet, "I haven't said anything about him being here. _And_ I'm not the one making a big fuss about the two of us working together!" She shot Ironhide a meaningful glare.

"You haven't said two words to 'im since he told us about the lens." Ironhide told her, voice rising slightly.

"Why should I?!" Aria yelled back.

"Enough!" Optimus' steady voice cut through the argument. Aria and Ironhide immediately snapped their mouths shut as the big mech looked first at one, then the other. "We're not here to argue." He finally said. "I suggest the two of you sort this out when we get back to Iacon. Right _now_," he stressed the word, "we need to worry more about getting to the Core."

Ironhide and Aria nodded to show they understood, Aria looking away in embarrassment at losing her cool like that. A quick glance at her bond with the gruff old mech told her that Ironhide wasn't too pleased with his own actions either.

She tugged briefly at their line to show she didn't hold it against him. He nudged her with a digit to show the same thing.

The whoosh of wings against air told them that Nat and Peg had returned. Aria looked up just in time to see them arrow up over the edge of the chasm. Peg stiffened her wings to keep from rising much higher before she turned and landed expertly at the bots' feet.

"There was nothing that I could see." Nat told them, not bothering to dismount this time. "No guards, no cons, no monsters. Just a dark empty hole in the wall."

Optimus nodded. "Good," he said. "There should be a way down to the base of the ravine closer to the Underworld entrance that way." He pointed farther up the chasm before turning to the young mech near him. "Cloudraker, you and Nathanial go down to the entrance and keep a look out for any other life forms."

"Remember to watch for things inside the cave too." Ironhide told Cloudraker seriously.

Cloud nodded. "Yes sir." He snapped before collapsing down into his sleek alt-mode and rocketing down into the Well.

Nathanial nodded once at Prime, his face grim, before wheeling Peg around and diving off the cliff into empty air.

Aria instinctively held her breath as he disappeared over the edge. She had to forcibly remind herself that Peg could fly. They were _not _falling to their deaths.

Despite that though, she didn't start breathing again until she carefully peered over the edge and saw Nathanial and Peg gliding safely towards the bottom of the chasm.

She let out her pent up air with a whoosh, telling herself it was just her recent near-fall that had her worrying for the odd pair's safety.

"Well come on them Sparkfinder." Ironhide's voice came from behind her. "Let's get to it."

Aria nodded, turning to see Ironhide's black truck form waiting for her with the passenger side door open.

The path down turned out to be a rim of cracked and crumbling metal just barely wide enough for Prime's alt-mode to drive down. It was made up of tight switchbacks that zigzagged down the side of the Well, forcing Prime and Ironhide to drive at a crawl. Aria sat frozen in Ironhide's cab the whole way down, eyes squeezed shut and lips moving silently in an ongoing prayer that the road (and she used that term very loosely) wouldn't collapse out from under their axels.

They had some trouble when they reached the level where the river of lava had been. Over the eons the river had rubbed the chasm walls smooth, leaving no straight path for the ground-based alt-modes to take safely down. In the end Cloudraker had to take the other three down one at a time.

He was certainly feeling the strain by the time he got Prime down to the bottom of the ravine.

"By the AllSpark," he groaned as he landed, sinking in relief onto his landing gear.

"How ya doing?" Aria asked as she reached up and patted his nose. Behind her, Optimus and the others were inspecting the entrance to the Underworld.

"At least you were small enough to fit in the cockpit." Cloudraker groaned. Prime and Ironhide were so big that they'd had to stand balanced on his wings for him to carry them down. "I mean, I expected Prime to be difficult, but Ironhide is shorter than him! How is he so heavy?" He whined.

Aria found a grin for him. "It's all those cannons I'm sure."

"Couldn't he have left _some _of them behind? Just this once?" Cloud moaned.

Aria managed a small laugh. "I guess not."

Cloudraker groaned again as he started his transformation sequence. Aria stepped back, giving him space, but she could tell that he was definitely having a harder time with it than when they'd been at the rim of the Well.

As soon as he was on his feet again, Cloudraker recovered faster, and he and Aria joined the others at the mouth of the cave.

"-this entrance must have been covered by the lava flow while the Well was active." Optimus was saying as he, Ironhide, and Nathanial inspected the opening. Aria looked up at him, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. She caught Ironhide's optic and saw he was doing the same.

"You can take the data clerk out of the Hall of Records-" she said.

Ironhide chuckled.

Optimus, for his part, didn't notice their humor. He was too busy staring up at the mammoth entrance in a mix of trepidation and awe. "It does not appear naturally made." He commented as he ran a hand down the far side of the cave. "It wasn't cut with any tool I'm familiar with, but I still don't think this opening was made by any natural phenomenon."

Nathanial nodded as he went and got a closer look at the other side of the entrance. The metal ore was smooth up until the hole. The edges of the hole itself were jagged, reminding him of a wound left behind by a wild animal.

"It looks like something...bit its way out of there." He said warily.

Behind him, Peg's wide nostrils flared and she snorted. _"I do not like it down here." _She told him, her panic skirting the edge of Nathanial's mind. _"The smell is wrong and there isn't enough sky."_

Nat reached back and patted Peg's neck distractedly. "Don't worry Peg. We're alright down here. Prime said the Well's been closed for vorns."

Peg glared at her human's back where he stood peering at the edge of the opening. _"Because _that_ is our greatest concern down here!" _She snapped at him, dancing from hoof to hoof in aggravation.

Nat just rolled his eyes. "Quit worrying Peg. You're getting yourself worked up over nothing. I'm sure we're perfectly safe down here." He told her firmly.

_"Says the creature with weaker senses."_ Peg muttered derisively, but shut up nonetheless.

"What I do not understand," Prime said after a moment as he reached up as high as he could to feel the torn metal ore, "is why this ragged edge was not worn smooth by the river, like the rest of the chasm walls were."

Aria shrugged. "Maybe there's some kind of door?" She suggested. "Some safety mechanism that released when the Well closed?"

"Perhaps," Prime said, "or possibly this is some sort of overflow structure that was not needed while the Well was flowing normally."

_"Maybe the river did seal the hole and something re-clawed its way out when the Well dried up." _Peg suggested almost bitterly.

Everyone went still at the suggestion. Nathanial withdrew his hand from where he had been touching the wall just inside the cave.

It was Ironhide's gruff huff of air that broke the stillness. "Well standin' around here's not gonna do us any good. Let's get a move on."

Prime nodded, steeling himself for whatever may be hiding inside the darkness of the tunnel. "You're right Ironhide. We must reach the Core as soon as possible. Autobots," he took in his compatriots with a steady look, "let's roll out!"

They had only made it a few feet into the cave when they encountered a problem.

_"No!" _An inhuman scream suddenly shattered their thoughts. _"No I won't go! You can't make me!"_

Aria turned around, not taking her hand off of Cloudraker's ankle so she wouldn't lose his gray form in the dark of the cave. Silhouetted against the dim daylight behind them, Peg was dancing furiously from hoof to hoof, her dark eyes showing white all around the edges.

_"No!" _She was still shouting. _"No darkness Nathanial I won't do it!"_

Nathanial was anxiously trying to match Peg's skittish movements, keeping his body in between her head and the cave. "Peg. Peg! Calm down! We won't be underground forever. It's just for a little while!"

Peg's sudden animal scream said she didn't care _how_ long they were going to be down there. _"Don't care!" _She shrieked in her ghostly voice. _"Don't care! Don't care! I can't do it Nathanial I can't!"_

"Yes you _can_ Peg. I know you can be brave. I need your help-!"

_"Not here! Not like this! Don't ask me Nathanial! Please don't ask!" _She pleaded, shrieking again.

Her frightened sound echoed down the darkness of the cave, reverberating along metal walls and making the metallic rocks shake infinitesimally in the depths.

"Get her under control Nat before she gives us away!" Ironhide growled. Even though he was only a few feet ahead of her and Cloudraker, Aria couldn't make out his black frame from the general darkness of the tunnel.

As if on cue, a deep rumble appeared from farther up the cave, one that didn't have Peg's high pitched tone to it.

Her ears flicked back against her skull, going flat. She screamed again, rearing and tossing her front hooves so that Nathanial had to duck backwards to avoid getting hit in the head. As soon as he was far enough away from her, Peg landed back on her hooves with a thunk and turned and bolted for the dim light behind her. She skittered to a stop just a few yards shy of the cave entrance, rumbling nervously as her skin twitched and shivered.

Nathanial sighed as he straightened up and dusted himself off. "Alright," he said more to himself than the others, "new plan."

He strode determinedly from the cave, but slowed when Peg backed away from him nervously. He approached her more slowly, hands held palm up to calm her, before finally grabbing hold of her halter. Aria and the bots waited in the cave, watching as he spoke to her. They were too far away to hear what he said, but whatever it was seemed to calm her. A cycle passed and she shook her mane out, brown eyes returning to their normal size.

She whickered some sort of relieved agreement, and then turned and trotted off to the side of the cave entrance where she positioned herself so she could watch the sky and the mouth of the cave at once.

Nathanial jogged back to where Aria and Cloudraker were. "Peg's going to stay here. She'll tell us if anyone follows us into the cave or comes out while we're inside." He said, looking in what was roughly Optimus' direction. With his bold red and blue coloring he was a little easier to see in the dark.

Optimus nodded. "Very well. Are you sure you will be able to...hear her that far underground?" He asked.

Nathanial nodded sharply. "Yes. We're linked together. Stone and metal won't block that out. Distance can weaken it, but I should still be close enough to hear her."

Optimus thought about this. "Tell her that we will check in every thirty cycles. If we don't, order her to return immediately to Iacon and inform Ultra Magnus of what happened."

Nathanial nodded, a faraway look on his face that Aria recognized as him talking with Peg. She looked up at the cave entrance just in time to see Peg toss her head affirmative.

"All set." Nathanial confirmed a half klik later.

"Very well." Optimus said as he activated his headlights high on his chest. "Let's move out."

Ironhide and Cloudraker activated their own lights before following their leader deeper into the cave, the humans close behind them. Nathanial fell into step a few feet behind Ironhide, but Aria stuck close to her brother.

The deeper they walked into the tunnel, the darker it became, until soon enough the only light came from the three bots' high powered beams. They turned this way and that as they walked, looking for alternate pathways or anything that might be down here to watch them. The walls became slightly damp the farther they got and in the distance Aria could make out the non-steady drip of some kind of liquid.

"This place gives me the creeps." She whispered, the hard, rocky surfaces carrying her voice farther then she would have liked.

Above her, Cloudraker nodded.

Optimus looked to either side of him to check their surroundings again, and stopped with a sharp vent of air when his headlights fell on a sadly familiar sight.

"Frag..." Ironhide muttered as he turned his own light on the crystallized dark energon Prime had found. "Looks like it's spread faster than we thought. It's already embedded in the wall."

He was right, Aria saw. The violet colored crystal had grown _out_ of the wall. All around it she could see veins of violet spreading like cobwebs through the metal ore that made up Cybertron. How deep did those veins run, she wondered with a frown.

The silence was a little grimmer from that point on. The group of three bots and two humans carefully made their way deeper into the cave, which had turned into a long, dark tunnel at this point. Aria had never been good with time, but she lost sense of it even quicker down here. But even then, it didn't feel very long before something in the air changed.

Aria frowned, trying to put her finger on the sudden difference. It took her a moment of pointless squinting to realize that the echoes of the distantly dripping water sounded different. Not just closer, but...louder maybe? More echoy?

"I think there's a cavern up ahead." Optimus whispered from up front. He swept his headlights over the path in front of them again, and this time the light hit the side of the wall and then went farther before hitting wall again; the entrance to something other than tunnel.

They quickened their pace, eager to have some space around them again instead of the claustrophobic darkness of the tunnel. Optimus drew his blaster, motioning Ironhide to watch the other side of the opening. They waited a moment, listening for anything else that might be lurking in the cavern beyond, before quickly stepping through-

-and then just as quickly stopping as they found themselves on a ledge standing nearly fifty feet from the bottom of a large cavern.

"Easy." Optimus warned the others, motioning Cloudraker back altogether. He wasn't sure just how much weight this ledge would hold before crumbling away altogether.

Aria peered into the dark near Optimus' feet. "Just how big is this place?" She whispered, but even then her small voice bounced around rough metal walls like a bullet ricocheting around a room.

Optimus fed more power to his lights so they could see more than the five feet of walls to either side of them. But even when they were burning bright enough to make Aria squint, the light still didn't reach the ceiling of the cavern.

"Oh scrap." Ironhide muttered as he squinted through the light at the walls of the large, underground space.

Aria's mouth was hanging open. "Holes." She said in a voice that was just a little higher than normal. "It just had to be holes."

The cavern walls were covered with holes. Holes that led to tunnels just like the one they had taken, leading to only Primus knew where. There were rows of the dratted things sitting at uneven intervals all over the rounded walls. Aria tried to count them, but stopped at thirty-one because there just wasn't enough time to add them all up.

Behind them, Cloudraker leaned up on tip-toe to try and see what they were staring at. "Which one leads to the Core?" He whispered.

Ironhide harrumphed, propping his fists on his hips as he glared at the holey underground. "Can't tell." He told the young Seeker. "And it'd take us stellar cycles to map all of 'em."

Aria looked up when the light suddenly swung upward, throwing the walls once again into darkness. Optimus frowned up at the ceiling, which now appeared as a shadowy slab of rock looming over their heads.

Cloudraker redirected his lights as well, bringing the ceiling more into focus. "There are more of them up there." He commented when he saw the spots that refused to be illuminated clinging to the ceiling. Aria followed his gaze and felt her spark-heart fall a little farther when she saw the dim, rough edged patches of blackness. Distantly she heard Optimus vent a sigh and Nathanial mutter a curse she'd never heard before.

Ironhide just squinted up at the holes above them and made an irritated noise in the back of his vocal processor.

"There's no telling where they all lead." Cloudraker murmured. "How do we find out which one goes to the Core?"

"If any of 'em do." Ironhide muttered darkly.

Optimus ignored him. "Some of them probably lead back to the surface," he told them, optics slowly crossing the ceiling and walls around them, "but most of them are probably dead ends."

"So best case; we end up back where we started." Ironhide clarified. "Worst case; we waste time tripping around in the dark only to run up against a wall."

"Even worse case; something's nesting in the back of one of those dead ends and is very unhappy to have guests." Cloudraker muttered under his breath.

Aria sighed. "Well thanks for _that_ image Cloud."

Nathanial looked up at the older bots as Cloudraker shrugged at Aria. "So what do we do now? Split up and start checking individual tunnels?"

Optimus shook his head. "No, that would take too much time. And Cloudraker's right, there may be more than Decepticons living down here. We should stick together.

"However," he continued with a thoughtful frown, "if the path to the Core _is _one of these tunnels, it's entirely possible that the Decepticons have already found it."

Nathanial leaned toward Aria, making her stiffen slightly. "Why would the Decepticons be roaming around down here?" He whispered.

Aria forced her shoulders to relax a little before whispering back. "Megatron's been looking for Vector Sigma – that's the main brain of Cybertron – since he was a gladiator. Most of the rumors say it's down here somewhere, close to the Core."

Nat nodded. "Ah."

He leaned away again and Aria relaxed more, but not all of her inner tension went away.

"So we just have to follow the Decepticons' trail? Is that it?" She asked, hoping to distract herself with the present.

Optimus sighed. "If they already know where it is, then they probably marked it so they wouldn't get lost down here. And even if they didn't, then we may be able to track their recent passage." He told her with far more certainty than Aria felt.

Ironhide snorted and frowned. "And besides, we don't have any other ideas."

Aria released a long breath of air, the wind rustling her hair. "Good point." She mumbled.

Optimus glanced up at the ceiling again. "Cloudraker, check the holes above us-"

"Yes Prime."

"-Ironhide and I will check the lower levels-"

The black mech nodded.

"-and Ariah and Nathanial," he finally turned toward the two humans, "will stay here until we find the correct path."

Aria visibly slumped, but didn't argue as Cloudraker transformed and zoomed upward. Ironhide and Optimus went in opposite directions, each jumping to a lower level cave and scanning it before repeating the process until they reached the ground level of the cavern.

Aria felt more than saw Nathanial send her an anxious look. Cloudraker had transformed into his robot mode again, rocket boots keeping him in the air, before the other human said anything.

"So..." he eventually tried, "why are we waiting up here do you think?"

Aria frowned, but didn't look at him. "Unless you have some sensors packed away somewhere I doubt you'll be able to find the right cave." She told him tightly. "They'll have an easier time scanning for lingering Decepticon signals then we would."

The atmosphere around the two human seemed to tighten, but Aria went on doing her best to ignore it. It wasn't like she objected to Nathanial's questions. She just didn't want to talk was all. Right. That was it.

But even hyper-aware of the other human's presence, Aria just about jumped out of her skin again when Nathanial suddenly whispered, "Do you hear that?"

Aria frowned, heart thumping hard in her chest, wondering what he was getting at. But then she heard the faint scrabbling noises coming from one of the caves.

She looked around wildly, wondering where it was coming from as images of grotesque mechanical monsters sprung into her mind. It took her a moment to realize that one of the caves off to their left was now slightly brighter than the others.

"Optimus!" She hissed down at the red and blue mech and then pointed at the cave with the growing light when he looked up at her.

The Autobot leader must have sent out a silent pulsewave to the others as he took shelter in one of the dark passageways, because a klik later Ironhide had killed his lights and ducked into another, his dark paint making him nearly invisible. Aria looked up just as Cloudraker dove into one of the higher caves, the bright fire of his rocket boots disappearing as the hole swallowed him up.

Without any lights on them, Aria and Nat were as safe as they could be in the dark, but even then they flattened themselves against the ledge, heads lifted just high enough to keep an eye on the ever-growing light.

Aria just was beginning to think that maybe the light was actually the fire breath of some frightening underground dragon, when two dark Vehicons suddenly popped out of the tunnel.

Aria blinked as her expectations were shattered. Peering at the two average black and purple Vehicons, she felt rather silly for expecting a dragon...

"I'm telling you Steve, this place is creepier than Pit." One of them said to the other – Steve apparently, although how he had gotten a completely human kind of name Aria had absolutely _no_ idea – as they walked across the cavern floor, headlights illuminating the way.

Steve – _"Steve?"_ Nathanial mouthed at her and Aria just shrugged helplessly, still confused herself – snorted in agreement. "I'm with you Malcolm. Just the other orbit I was walking past that last turn and I _swear _to Primus there was something watching me from the dark. I told Roger about it, but he just laughed at me! Said I was letting my processor run away with me."

Malcolm – Aria very nearly facepalmed, but she was afraid the oddly named Vehicons would notice the noise – nodded. "Yeah, Roger's rude-"

They disappeared down another tunnel, the darkness quickly swallowing up their conversation and the lingering light of their headlights.

For a long cycle nothing in the cavern moved except for the frustratingly inconsistent drip of fluid.

"Well that was the _weirdest_ conversation _I've_ ever heard on this planet." Aria said when she was sure Steve and Malcolm were gone. "And that's including all those questions Percy and Wheeljack keep asking me about 'where do human sparklings come from?'."

Nathanial nodded, face slightly red even in the dark, as he climbed back to his feet. "At least now we know which way to go." He murmured.

It was Aria's turn to nod as she and Nat waited for Cloudraker to pick them up on his way down to the cavern floor.

The new tunnel wasn't much different from the old one. It was long and dark, although much more quiet now that they were leaving that annoying drip-drip-dropping noise behind them. However the most disturbing thing was that the farther they walked, the more veins of dark energon appeared growing throughout the metal rock. Large chunks of crystalline energon sprouted from the walls at random intervals that grew closer together the farther they went. After awhile, Aria noticed that the dark energon crystals were glowing. And the closer they got to the source, the brighter the glow became. Soon they didn't even need the mechs' headlights to see.

Aria crossed her arms over her stomach, feeling cold and clammy as they made their way through the violet light of the tunnel.

"You feeling alright?" Cloudraker asked above her.

Aria looked up and made an, 'Eh," gesture with her hand before wrapping it around her middle again. She noticed that Cloud had tightened his armor around his spark, she assumed to keep the oily feeling of dark energon out. "The dark energon's making me feel kind of feverish." She admitted.

"I know what you mean." Nathanial said from her other side. She looked over as he rubbed at the back of his neck at the tether stone sitting just under his hairline.

Aria nodded, biting the inside of her lip as she tried to ignore the sudden feeling that she should say something. "H-how's Peg doing? Did those Vehicons come out yet?" She finally caved.

Nathanial's gaze turned inward as he spoke to Peg. "No," he finally told her, "they must have come out somewhere else. Nothing's changed up there since we left."

Aria nodded, feeling embarrassed now as well as sick.

Their conversation came to a sudden stop when Optimus abruptly held up a fist. The small company stopped behind him, listening hard in the violet-tinged dark. Aria frowned. For a minute she thought she had heard something, but there were no tell-tale headlights like before so maybe it was just her imagination...?

After another long cycle of watchful silence, nothing appeared out of the dark. No sound, no figures, so Optimus motioned them forward, but quietly.

The hustled cautiously down a short stretch of tunnel before it abruptly opened up into another cavern. Unlike the first one, this one was much smaller height-wise, even though it stretched off into darkness on their right. Thick, pointed stalagmites and stalactites clung tight to floor and ceiling in clusters. They ranged in size from about the width of Aria's waist to the thickness of Prime's massive shoulders.

Here the only light came from the dark energon embedded in the wall directly to their left, but none of the mechs turned on their headlights despite the gloom. The crystals' light was enough that they could make out the hole almost directly across the room from them where the tunnel picked back up.

There were too many stalagmites in the way for them to take the direct route, so they had to settle for weaving in and out of the tight clusters of metallic rock. Some of the formations were packed so tightly together that not even Aria could squirm her way through them.

Maybe it was the eerie lack of sound, maybe it was the violet light or the long, distorted shadows it created, but the farther they crept into the room, the tighter everyone's nerves stretched. Looking around, Aria couldn't help but think there was something wrong with this place, something that not even dark energon could have created.

They finally passed the halfway point and Aria felt some of the tension evaporate from her shoulders. _"Almost there. Don't freak out now cuz you're almost there."_ She told herself in an attempt to keep from screaming. She didn't like this. The dark was too heavy, too tangible. It made the air press down on her chest so that she couldn't breathe right. And there was just enough violet light in the cave that every twitching shadow made Aria jump out of her skin, like she thought she was surrounded by unseen enemies-

The dark was suddenly shattered by the piercing brightness of a miniature star exploding around them with the shriek of a Seeker missile. Aria's scream was lost in the noise as she was flung off her feet and hurled towards the cave wall.

She hit something hard enough that pain sparked along her jaw and ran through her skull, down her spine to her limbs, making more stars explode in her vision. A ringing in her ears drowned out the sounds of weapons fire Aria was sure must be there.

A shadowy form curled closer to her head, making her flinch. But when she looked again, the form resolved into a large, dark gray hand hovering over her. It looked familiar to her, but it still took Aria a long moment of staring to realize it was Cloudraker's hand. Brain starting to recover from being bounced around her skull, Aria realized the warm metal she was lying on was Cloudraker's upper body. He must have caught her before she hit the wall.

But that still didn't explain what had exploded in the first pla-

Aria sucked in air with a little squeak when she finally managed to twist herself around to see what had hit them. Broken stalagmites littered the floor of the cavern, their shattered forms thrown into stark relief by the violet light of the dark energon crystals that had been thrown about by the explosion. Torn away from the main dark energon vein though, their light was dying. But even in the dimming glow of dark energon, Aria could just make out Nathanial where he'd be thrown to the floor in rough middle of the mayhem.

And the..._thing_ that was standing over him.

It had the rough outline of a Transformer, but any similarities between the creature and the surface-dwelling Cybertronians ended there. Its arms were too long, stretching almost to the floor like an ape's, but it stood on its back legs like the bots. Irregularly shaped metal plates covered its torso, like a centipede, but single plates fastened together protected its legs and back.

The light from the dark energon finally flickered and died out before Aria could see anything more, but a sulfurous yellow light prevented total darkness from creeping in. It illuminated Nathanial in a halo of sickly light where he remained unmoving on the craggy floor. Aria swallowed hard when she realized it was coming from the creature's mouth.

_"It's a monster!" _Even her inner voice was high pitched and squeaky. _"A real live monster!"_

Technically it was an Underworlder, but that didn't make much difference to Aria.

Nobody moved. Nathanial and Aria hardly even _breathed_. The ringing in her ears was starting to fade, but there wasn't anything else to hear except the renewed sound of dripping and the rasp of air as Nathanial pulled in harsh, shallow breaths.

The monster leaned down low, putting its weight on its overlong forearms. It cocked its head to the side like a bird, and inspected the prone human with one yellow-orange optic. Even several yards away, Aria saw Nat's breathing stutter.

She slipped the few feet from Cloudraker's chest to the floor, but before she could move away from the broken rocks protecting them, the Seeker put a hand in front of her to stop her. She looked up at him in surprise, eyes wide.

_"We can't just leave him there!"_ She fell back on the simple sign language she'd taught the younglings when they'd simply run out of things to do one orn. _"We've got to do something!"_

_"That thing could melt the skin off your frame!"_ Cloudraker argued back. _"How's getting yourself fried going to help?!"_

Aria turned around again in frustration, but the creature hadn't moved its large optic away from Nathanial. A different movement caught her eye and she turned again to see Optimus and Ironhide pressed against debris on the other side of the gap separating them from Aria and Cloudraker. Optimus was motioning for her to stay put. Ironhide's attention was focused on the Underworlder and Nathanial. Aria saw he had one of his cannons out, but there was no whine that said it was powered up. She could only guess that he was concerned the noise would attract the creature's attention. In the background, the dripping noise grew louder.

Feeling helpless, Aria faced Nathanial again just as the creature straightened up. It hunkered back on his back legs, making the strangely-shaped plates on its torso shift. It tilted its head to one side, then the other, and Aria couldn't help but think it was confused. But then that made sense; it had never seen an organic before.

_"It doesn't know what to do with him." _Aria realized breathlessly.

The creature leaned back slightly, a crest half rising off of its angular head, and then it let loose an ear-splitting shriek that shook more slabs of metal ore from the ceiling.

Aria slapped her hands over her ears as Cloudraker sheltered her with his hands again, but that hardly drowned out the sound. She couldn't even hear the thumps as rubble bounced off her brother's sturdier frame as the Underworlder did its best to bring the ceiling down around them.

It finally stopped, but Aria didn't take her hands off her ears until the last echoes of the noise died out. Heart pounding in her chest hard enough to make her ribs ache, she peered past Cloudraker's hand to see the creature shake what might have been doorwings at Nathanial with a growl.

It was like watching some kind of dominance ritual on animal planet, Aria thought, except instead of animals, it was more like mutated people with big muscles and no brains...

Aria tried to think of something to do that wouldn't put Nathanial in even more danger then he was already in, but her mind wouldn't focus. It wasn't like she could have prepared herself for a giant Cybertron monster threatening her boyfriend!

She stopped in her mental tracks as her face suddenly turned bright red. _"Ex-boyfriend." _She corrected herself. _"I couldn't have prepared for a giant Cybertron monster threatening my _ex_-boyfriend. Totally what I meant."_

Her internal monologue was cut off by the sudden _drip_ of thick fluid hitting the cavern floor.

_"And now that blasted dripping has reappeared!" _Aria thought with a scowl. _"How am I supposed to help Nat with that stupid dripping making it impossible to think?! It's like it followed us from-_

She paused again.

_"-oh Pit..."_

She may have scared Cloudraker with her sudden arm flailing, but she managed to shoo him behind a large set of rocks before the second monster came into sight.

It wasn't as lanky as the first one, dragging itself on all fours instead of walking upright. Its head was broader, with large Triceratops-like spikes sweeping back from its flat face and it had jagged spikes extending from all four knee joints. Aria noticed with a shiver that the one closest to her was covered in thick lubricant, and she didn't think it belonged to the new monster either.

The first monster straightened up as the second one limped into the cavern. One of its legs lagged behind, unable to move because of the long gash running along its length from hip to toe-claw. The incessant dripping was from the oily-looking internal fluid that was dripping from the second creature's underbelly.

Aria saw Nathanial's eyes dart from the second creature to the one still standing over him. The upright one didn't seem to be paying him any attention now, but it was still so close that any movement he made would bring its head snapping around again.

Cloudraker carefully tapped his sister's back. She looked back at him, annoyed, but he just pointed at something beyond the first creature.

Confused, Aria looked, frowning at the darkness behind it.

_"What am I looking at?"_ She signed at him hotly.

Cloudraker pointed again before signing with his other hand, _"There's more."_

Eyes going wide, Aria turned back and saw he was right. Three-no _four_ sets of orange optics glowed out of the dark, all looking at the wounded creature as it crept closer to Nathanial and his inspector. The low rumble of animal-like grunts and growls started to make the air vibrate around them.

The wounded one opened its flat mouth and gave a low but loud bellow, although Aria couldn't tell if it was asking the others for help or warning them away.

The first monster obviously didn't agree with whatever it said because it snarled something in return, stretching up on its lanky limbs to tower over the wounded one. Its head crest snapped all the way open as doorwings stood straight up from the creature's back. Aria's eyes widened in fear as the yellow-orange glow in its open mouth grew brighter to a white-hot intensity.

She threw herself to the side, knowing what was coming next, but she couldn't duck fast enough before the high powered beam shot out of the Underworlder's mouth. She caught a glimpse of the same white-yellow beam that had first attacked them slicing through the other creature's shoulder and coming out at its back hip, cutting its spine in two along the way before she hit the ground with an _oof_.

She heard the injured one give a final scream, but the sound was cut short by the more disturbing noise of a living thing exploding outward and splattering the nearby walls.

The first monster gave a victorious roar that threatened to deafen them all again. Then there was the noise of large beings tromping forward. The sickening crack of armor and the slurp of internal fluids wasn't far behind.

Something hit the ground at Aria's side and she jumped, hands darting to cover her head. She looked up with wide eyes, afraid some part of the half-eaten beast had been thrown next to her, but it was only Nathanial. He looked just as white and shaken as she felt.

He pressed his back against one of the rocks that hid them from sight and gasped for air. From her spot on the ground, Aria saw his hands were shaking. She reached out and gripped his shirt sleeve with white fingers, just to make sure he was real.

He gripped her hand with his, needing the same reassurance.

Once it sunk in that he wasn't dead, Aria looked up at Cloudraker sitting above them. His own face was ashen gray under his paint as he stared in horror at something Aria couldn't see from her smaller vantage point.

"Wha-" she tried to ask but her voice wasn't even a whisper. She licked her lips and tried again. "What are they doing?"

Cloudraker's optics flicked towards her before another slurping roar pulled them back."They're-they're devouring it. They're stealing its armor and drinking its energon..."

He trailed off in a horrified whisper. Aria whimpered, unable to block out the sounds of the Underworlders gorging and pressed her forehead against the cold ground. The only warmth she felt was Nathanial's hand wrapped around hers.

A whistle pierced the slurping, crunching sounds, making the three of them look up. On the other side of the gap in the debris, Ironhide was motioning them over. Aria saw that Optimus was already at the exit of the cavern a few yards behind the black mech.

Nathanial pulled her to her feet before letting go of her hand altogether. Aria shivered and almost wished he hadn't, but even with the Underworld creatures cannibalizing one of their own just a few feet away, she refused to lean on him, even though a part of her wanted to, badly.

Nathanial went first, running past the gap in cover without looking over his shoulder at the feeding monsters. Aria wasn't as strong. She looked when she was almost to the other side. Her feet stuttered and she nearly fell when she saw the group of creatures, the ground at their feet slick with internal fluids, tearing apart the offline one and incorporating its armor into their own frames.

Momentum carried her the rest of the way into safety and Ironhide's hand was the only thing that kept her from falling face first to the ground again. She stood where she wouldn't be able to see the creatures feasting as she waited for Cloudraker to join them.

The Underworlders didn't pay them any further attention as they slunk back into the tunnel and away from the gruesome sight. But no one was surprised. They had what they wanted.

The last stretch of tunnel was short, but the slurping sounds died away before they reached the end of it. Aria's shakes were just starting to weaken too when they saw the light that marked the end of the tunnel. Unlike before, this was the sharp, white light of electricity, which meant they now had a more familiar enemy to deal with.

Just up ahead, a group of Vehicons silently guarded the entrance to Cybertron's Core.


	35. Chapter 35: The Core

So first, I apologize for not getting this up yesterday. But second- Yay! Look! My computer's alive! I didn't accidentally murder it! :D That's good news right?! :3

I also hope that you will bear with me a bit because this chapter is a little- no, _a lot_ weird and I'm only sorta sure of it. But the freakishly weird part is straight out of the Fall of Cybertron game, so...yeah. But it was just too good to pass up! I seriously laughed my head off when I saw this part of the game. And then my sister said I should put it in my story and...well it was just too funny not to. So the ending it a bit...trippy. I hope you like it, if for nothing else than it's random-like-ness ;p

Anyway, gianormous thanks to go my sister Mini-Grimmy (who gets credit for the aforementioned idea whether she likes it later or not ;3) along with all of the other wonderful people who sent in advice about what to do when you almost accidentally murder your laptop! I honestly did not expect anyone to review to that, but thanks! I'm was grateful for all the advice and support! And of course thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 34. I loved reading your thoughts and responses to the Underworlders and the Autobots' trek through the caves. :)

And with all those reviews/advice, you have now gone over 300 reviews! o.O I can hardly believe it! But YAY! Thank you guys so much for leaving me so many reviews! And I'm so amazed and glad and excited (and a number of other things) that all of you have stuck with _The Long Road Home_ this long. **Thank you so much! **::sends air hugs and throws confetti::

:) Hope you enjoy this next chapter, or at the least that you get a laugh out of the end. ;3

...

The Long Road Home

35 – The Core – 35

Optimus and Ironhide stopped in the shadow of the tunnel as they tried to decide what to do. Ahead of them, standing in the polished, well lit room that housed the entrance to the Core of Cybertron stood about a dozen Vehicons, each with sensors trained on the various tunnels that led from the Core to the different areas of Cybertron's surface.

Down at their feet, Nathanial crouched down to get a better look at the space that lay beyond. He felt his eyebrows raise slightly when he saw it was an actual room instead of just another cavern. It was shiny and vast, a perfect cube carved underground and plated with the same high quality metal that made up Iacon's central buildings. Only without the soot and degradation left by the war.

Consoles lined the walls on two sides and part of the third, but otherwise the room was stark and silver. The back wall, however, was taken up by a door the size of a New York high rise. It was shut tight and Nathanial was sure that not even all three Autobots together could force it open, but presumably one of the consoles would open it for them.

Nathanial frowned. Even if they found the right button to open the doors though, how were they going to get through them without having to wade through a mass of Vehicons?

Nathanial frowned thoughtfully as he took in the three other tunnels he could see from his low vantage point. There were two Vehicons watching each opening at the very least, with more watching the main tunnel.

_"Fortunately we didn't come out there." _Nathanial thought in grim relief. _"Our route must be a side entrance to the Core."_

He couldn't be sure without leaving cover, but he thought their tunnel was sitting a ways up the wall off the floor. And with the two Decepticons watching it with bored looks on their faceplates, he reasoned that this was one of the few places they weren't expecting any trouble. And while Nat still wasn't sure what this Core everyone kept talking about did or why they needed to see it so badly, he figured from the sheer dimension and clean upkeep that it must be pretty important.

He straightened up and looked back up at Optimus and Ironhide. He thought they must be using pulsewaves to communicate because they looked deep in conversation despite the fact that they hadn't said a word since reaching the end of the tunnel. They must have finally finished though, because Prime looked down at Aria and gave her a sharp nod.

"Right," Aria whispered as she straightened up from her own inspection of the Core's entrance, "looks like I'm up."

Nathanial wasn't sure why he was still surprised by anything Aria said – really he wasn't – but he still couldn't quite keep the shocked look off his face.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh don't give me that look Nathanial. You think the bots can get through that without all those Steves noticing?" She gave a small snort as she pulled her rope and grapple from her belt and gave it the once over. "No, sneaking is _my_ specialty." She did the same with her human-sized pistol before reaching up and taking what looked like a bandolier from Ironhide. She strapped it over her chest as she added in a somewhat stern whisper, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a group of Steves to mess with so..."

She left it at that and turned toward the large room, but not before Nat saw the nervous twitch of her eyebrows or the way she clenched her fists as if to steel her nerves.

"Good luck Aria." Nathanial said quickly.

She paused just long enough to give him a tiny smile over her shoulder before taking the hook end of her rope and attaching it to a stalagmite near the entrance.

Nathanial couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. That was the first non-glare she'd given him since Tyger Pax.

Aria waited just long enough for the Vehicons watching their entrance to look at someone talking behind them before stepping off the side of their hole. There was the slight _whizz_ of rope sliding along metallic rock as she briefly repelled down the smooth wall, and then the slight _clink_ as the hook released its stationary post and tumbled over the side to join her.

Nathanial looked back at the Vehicons, but they hadn't noticed Aria's descent. Ducking low to avoid their line of sight and staying behind the stalagmites Aria had used to anchor her rope, he crept forward and stretched his head over the side of the hole.

The drop wasn't nearly as bad as he'd thought, and down at the bottom, tucked safely out of sight behind the consoles lining their side of the wall, Aria was quietly making her way to the other side of the room.

Aria could hear what was left of her heart pounding in her ears as she made her way down the space between computers and wall. It was a small enough space that she could touch both walls if she stretched her arms out, and there was enough dust back here to make her worry about sneezing her position away, but otherwise it wasn't that bad. She could hear the power running through the cables as she stepped over them and a Steve cracking the occasional joke about protecting the Core from turbo-mice, but otherwise it was quiet.

Soon enough she reached the end of the first row of consoles. Slowly, trying not to attract too much attention to herself, Aria leaned around the corner of the last computer console. The Steves hadn't moved and four of them were still watching the main entrance next to her.

She ducked back behind the gray console and released a large breath. _"Now for the hard part..."_

She snapped off one of the green capsules from the bandolier Ironhide had given her and twisted one side to activate it. A row of digital zeros appeared on the screen set in the middle of the bomb as it gave a ready beep.

Taking another breath and holding it this time, Aria leaned back around the console and threw the bomb away from her before disappearing back behind her console. She heard the capsule clink as it rolled along the floor, going past the Vehicons' large boots before finally coming to a stop behind their line.

She knew they had seen the bomb, and therefore knew an enemy was near even if they hadn't been able to make her out before she had hidden behind the console again. She heard one of them start to shout a warning, but before he could finish she had firmly pressed the activation button.

The bomb went off and more than one Vehicon shouted at the impact. Even knowing it was a small explosion as far as Wheeljack's toys were concerned, Aria kept her back pressed tight against the console behind her as what felt like a wall of fire and heat shot past her hiding spot.

She waiting just long enough for the fire to die down before breaking from her safety and running across the empty space in front of the main entrance. Distantly she heard the Vehicons shouting as they searched for something to shoot at through the haze of smoke and dust.

"What was that?!"

"Where are they?!"

"Show yourselves you cowardly Autobots!"

"Medic!"

Aria was still five feet from the safety of the other row of consoles when she heard one of the Steves shout above the rest.

"Hey! Hey there it is! It's the Autobots' pet squishy! Don't just stand there. Shoot it! Shoot it!"

A blaster shot sizzled through the air above her head and Aria ducked instinctively, but didn't stop running. More purple-pink blasts started to rain around her as she fumbled for another bomb with stiff fingers. She tossed it at the lead Vehicon just before disappearing again behind the row of consoles.

The enemy fire died down as they all backed away from the rolling explosive, but she didn't detonate it yet. Instead she ran through the dusty crawl space, scrambling over the cables when they were too big to jump.

"Where'd she go?" The same Vehicon that had ratted her out shouted.

"Behind the computers! Squishy's behind the computers!"  
>"No! Don't fire at it you glitch! You'll scrap Teletraan!"<p>

Even breathless, Aria managed to grin. _"I guess even Decepticons think twice before destroying stuff as old as Teletraan and the Core."_

"Well then what the heck do we do huh?!" The other Steve was yelling back as the dust cleared from the middle of the room to reveal three injured Vehicons. "Just wait for it to crawl out and bite us again?!"

Aria reached the end of the second row in a skid of dust as the Vehicons continued to scream at each other. Trying to catch her breath in the limited time she had, she pulled her second to last bomb off the diagonal chest strap and peered around the corner. The Vehicons were looking everywhere, blasters ready to fire and searching for her small frame.

Eyeing the black opening in the rock that separated the console she hid behind from the next one in line, Aria steeled herself for what had to happen next.

"Hate this next part," she whispered breathlessly to herself, "definitely hate this next part."

Then she sucked in a big breath, spun around the corner and threw the bomb towards the cluster of Vehicons.

She twisted back just as it went off, making the Vehicons shout and swear some more. But before they could start searching for her head again, Aria stepped out of the crawl space and shouted at the Vehicons.

"Come and get me you Deceptic-drones!" She screamed at them, whip-hook held tight in one hand. Then when she had enough of the group's attention, she turned and dove straight into the inky black of the Underworld tunnel.

...

Still hidden in their own tunnel, Optimus and the others watched as the Vehicons still able to ran after Aria, quickly disappearing into the underground blackness. When the dust had finally settled, only three Vehicons were left in the room. Only one was standing though, the other two having been wounded by Aria's explosions. One was already in stasis lock, and while the other's knee joint was sparking something fierce, he was still conscious enough to aim and shoot a gun.

Prime waited another few cycles to make sure the other Vehicons were well out of audio-range, then he gave Ironhide an affirming nod.

Ironhide nodded back and the well known whine of his cannons charging filled the tunnel. Then together, Optimus and Ironhide fired on the still conscious Vehicons.

Ironhide blew the Vehicon's spark away with one shot. His partner however, was smart enough to roll just as Prime's blast hit the ground where his chest had been. He came up against the wall as the other Vehicon's frame hit the floor with a crash. Now with nowhere to run, it didn't take too long for the Autobots' fire to catch up with him.

Ironhide's sharp aim ended the second Vehicon as well, and the purple and black Decepticon slumped against the wall as his spark faded.

The black mech grinned and dramatically blew the smoke away from the mouth of his cannon. Optimus ignored him as he jumped down to the floor of the console room, but he still heard Cloudraker mutter, "Show off," from the tunnel above him.

Ironhide just chuckled as he joined Prime on the ground floor. "So what now Prime?" He asked as Cloudraker, with Nathanial held carefully in his hands, climbed across the consoles under their hole and quickly stepped down to the ground behind the older mechs.

"We need to find a way into the Core." Optimus said as he looked around at the different computers, hoping there was some identifying marker next to the door release. They needed to get through before any of the other Decepticons following Aria made their way back.

"Is this it?" Cloudraker suddenly asked.

Optimus turned to see the younger mech pointing at a rectangular panel next to the great doors themselves. He blinked in surprise. That hadn't taken nearly as long as he had feared.

He made his way over, but Ironhide was closer and beat him there. He firmly pressed the door switch with a large thumb, but other than a faint click, nothing happened.

Frowning, Ironhide pressed it again, then several times in a row, making the button click each time.

"Nothing's happenin'!" He exclaimed, giving up on the button. "The switch must be somewhere else."

Optimus' optic ridges lowered in uncertainty. "Possibly." He admitted, but his tone clearly said he didn't believe that. Needing to be sure, he stepped closer and pushed the button with a long digit. He drew back slightly when a small jolt of static electricity lightly shocked him.

With the rumble of long unused machinery, the doors began to drift open.

Optimus stepped back in surprise. Next to him, he heard Ironhide snort. "Primes." He mumbled, but he sounded more like he should expect this by now rather than annoyed.

Optimus spared a glance at his long-time friend before turning his optics back to the opening doors. Light spilled through the doors as soon as room appeared between them. It was so bright that Prime had to shield his optics with a large hand, and it was at once too beautiful to comprehend and corrupt enough to make him feel sick at spark.

As the doors finished their torturously slow opening, a voice, sick and weary, appeared in his processor. Its whisper strange, but familiar, as if he had heard it once a long time ago.

_Enter Optimus Prime..._

...

_"Don't trip," _Aria's brain screamed at her as she fumbled her way through the dark, _"don't trip, don't trip, don't trip!"_

The light from the metal room had disappeared behind her a good ten minutes ago, but she didn't need to see them to know the Vehicons were hard on her tail. She could still hear them clanking and stumbling down the tunnel after her, swearing more often than not as they ran into rocks, walls, and each other.

_"If ya trip, ya die." _Her brain told her rather insensitively. _"And let's face it; it'd be really dumb to be killed by a hoard of Steves that are so stupid they haven't even remembered to turn their headlights on."_

Aria giggled somewhat hysterically as she half tripped on a rise in the ground, caught herself on her hands, and fumbled her way upright again as she forced herself to keep going.

"Ouch!" She heard the lead Steve shout behind her as something clanked loudly, _again_. "Watch where you're going Rory! That's my arm you just about blasted!"

"Sorry Maurice. I thought you were the squishy. You're certainly as dumb as one." Rory snarked back.

Another sharp clank and a shouted, _"Ow!"_ made Aria laugh again. Now she knew why the Vehicons were always used as cannon fodder.

"Would you too glitches stop your whining already?! We're gonna lose Prime's pet at this rate! Now get your act together and turn on your lights before I turn you both into flaming torches!"

_"Uh-oh," _Aria muttered to herself as she darted sideways to the wall and felt around the rocks for a place to hide, _"looks like fun time's over."_

Groping around the slick walls with her hands, she managed to find a crack in the wall just large enough for her to slip through. It was a tight fit, but somehow she managed to squeeze herself in without getting stuck.

_"This is worse than shopping for my prom dress!" _She thought, remembering the countless too-small dresses she'd tried on because all the cute gowns in her size had already been snatched up.

She pulled in shallow breaths in the small space and prayed that the Steves would get out of here before she passed out from hyperventilating.

Outside, the first of the lights flicked on. She turned her head towards the rock wall on her other side as they lights swung from side to side, looking for her pale form in the dark tunnel.

"Slag." The Vehicon in charge swore softly as he twisted his headlights left and right in the tunnel's narrow space. "She must be faster than we thought. And with all your _whining_," he glared at the two mechs behind and to either side of him, "she knew just which way to go to get away from us. Slaggin' idiots." He grumbled.

Rory and Maurice's shoulders slumped. "Sorry Roger." They both muttered, looking like kicked dogs.

"Yeah well you're gonna be even sorrier if we don't find her. I've heard that organic femme never goes more than a half a cyber-mile away from Prime. If she's here, then he is too. If we find her, I'll bet she'll lead us right to him."

Aria bit her lip to keep from giggling. He sounded like some bad soap opera villain, right down to the evil 'Mwuhahaha!' she knew he was just dying to let loose. This was just too ridiculous. They had all the right information, and they kept jumping to the wrong answer! It was just so stupid!

But knowing what they would probably do to her if they found her helped Aria swallow down her laughter.

She pressed her lips tight together to try and keep from breathing too loud. There wasn't enough room to turn her head from shoulder to shoulder, but if she turned her neck as far as she could without scraping her nose against damp rock, she could see the outside tunnel from a large corner of her eye.

The light of the Vehicon's headlights was abruptly cut off, throwing her into purple shaded darkness again. It took her eyes a moment to adjust and she realized that the lead Vehicon – Roger probably – was now standing right outside her hide out.

Aria closed her eyes and swallowed hard. He was standing so close to her she could hear the whirs of moving machinery as he moved, scanning the tunnel up ahead.

"I know you're there Sparkfinder!" He suddenly shouted, making Aria jump even in the small confines of the tunnel wall. "I bet you don't remember me but I was one of Shockwave's guards when you and your slaggin' Autobots came for that little yellow squishy Shockwave liked so much. 'Cept I was called Torque back then. But when you managed to get away, they took my name away and gave me one of your disgusting squishy names instead! Said if I was stupid enough to let two fleshlings like you leave tread marks all over me then I deserved it."

Normally Aria would have rolled her eyes and mentally told Roger to stop being such a baby, but she could practically feel the homicidal wave rolling off of him. This close to the Core the tunnels were hot like saunas, but Aria couldn't help the shivers that made her shoulders shake.

Roger still hadn't moved away from Aria's hidden frame. "That was a long time ago now, but I've got a long memory Sparkfinder." He told her, his voice echoing down the tunnels. "But I bet you don't. You probably won't have any idea what's going on when I finally catch up with you."

An eerie, wet kind of silence fell over the tunnel again as Roger's echoes faded away. Aria held her breath, afraid he would hear her in the quiet. But Roger still didn't move.

_"Leave you glitch!" _Aria thought, her chest starting to hurt as her air went stale. _"At least make some noise before I pass out!"_

But Roger just shifted his weight to his other foot and silently swept his headlights over the tunnel in front of him.

_"Slagger," _Aria thought as her hands balled up in an effort to hold her breath just a few seconds longer, _"he knows I can hear him."_

Stale air started to burn in her lungs. She couldn't hold it any longer. She had to breathe or pass out and risk the Vehicons finding her unconscious form.

But then a timid voice whispered, "What are we waiting for?"

Roger turned sharply, his hydraulics making enough noise to cover Aria's gasp for air. The following slap of metal on metal helped even more.

"Idiot!" Roger hissed, but offered no further explanation as he shoved his poor unfortunate subordinate into the Vehicon behind him. "Never mind, just search ahead! She's around here somewhere. The fleshling's scent is too strong for her not to be."

With a clanking step, Roger finally pressed forward, the rest of the Vehicons following him with their weapons at the ready. For a second, she could see the highlighted rock across from her as the Vehicons' lights made new veins of dark energon shine slightly in the tunnel wall. But then the Vehicons moved on, taking their light with them.

Aria waited for their echoing steps to die away before she wriggled out of her foxhole. She could have sworn there was a faint pop when she finally managed to get herself free.

"Whew," she breathed deeply when she was in the tunnel again. She looked in the direction where the group of Steves had gone. Even now she could just barely make out the faint bobbing of their headlights.

Aria frowned after them. _"Just what I need," _she thought as she propped her hands on her hips, _"a homicidal Vehicon that blames me for a bad nickname."_

But then she shrugged, realizing that that didn't change her objective. _"Well," _she thought as she jogged after the Vehicons, her small feet making little to no noise on the hard floor of the tunnel,_ "at least now I know why they've all got human names. This is the reject squad."_

She could see _why_ they were the reject squad the longer she followed them. They never turned around, never stopped to check behind rocks littering the floor when they appeared, and they never _ever_ shut up. Someone was always talking to someone else, no matter how many limbs Roger threatened to remove.

Even Roger himself was too hell bent on finding her to do it right. He looked to high, like he was looking for a bot, instead of closer to the ground where she was.

Aria followed them like this for some time, staying just beyond their ring of light and careful not to make any noise loud enough to be heard above their clumsy footsteps, before they finally came to a sharp turn in the underground passageway.

The Steves were still smart enough to check what was around the corner (and Aria was actually surprised they remembered to) but when they didn't find anything, Roger waved them forward.

Aria half ducked behind a small stalagmite and watched as each of the Vehicons disappeared around the corner up ahead. As soon as the last one disappeared, the light reduced drastically around her, leaving her in almost tangible darkness. But without the competition of the Vehicons' headlights, the dark energon veins in the walls started to glow again.

Blinking to help her eyes adjust to the violet glow faster, Aria carefully approached the turn in the passage. Slowly, she flattened herself against the wall and leaned around the edge. None of the Vehicons were looking back.

She ducked back behind the safety of the corner before pulling another capsule off of the bandolier she still wore. The dark energon crystals gave off enough light to make out the bomb's outlines as she switched it on.

Green lights blinked on, showing it was ready, and slowly she leaned back around the corner and attached the bomb to the metallic wall.

It gave a small, high pitched beep.

"Did you hear that?" One of the Steves asked his partner up ahead, making Aria freeze, one hand still holding the bomb.

The second Steve stopped and half looked around, but didn't see the green lights of the Autobot explosive. "Nah. You're hearing things again Joey."

Not needing any further explanation, Joey shrugged, then followed his partner down the tunnel after the others.

Aria released another breath of air. Her heart was pounding and her spark was glowing hotter than usual against her skin as she slowly removed her hand.

_"I hate Steves." _She mumbled as she retreated back down the tunnel. _"Annoying, annoying Steves. No gummy bears for Steves."_

She stopped when she came to a familiar set of boulders left lying on the tunnel floor. She turned and saw she was still within sight of the bend, although the light was so dim now that it was almost impossible to tell.

_"This is about as good as it'll get."_ Aria told herself as she pulled out the same button as before. She made sure she had all her extremities hidden by the shelter of the rocks before she sucked in a steadying breath and hit the bright green switch.

The explosives blew with Wheeljack's usual signature of loud and impressive, even as the shape of the tunnels directed it away from Aria and towards the Vehicons. The sudden light of the fire seared itself onto Aria's retinas and she squeezed her eyes shut. Even over the roar she heard the Steve's sudden shouting as rock walls began to crumble and disintegrate, large chunks dropping to the ground with shuddering force.

Aria kept her head down as the thud of rocks reverberated down the passageway, sounding as if they were landing right next to her instead of up ahead.

It didn't take long for the rocks to settle and, slowly, Aria raised her head. She peered past the rocks that had protected her to see that the corner where the two tunnels had connected was now covered by fallen rocks.

Aria stepped out of hiding. Even past the familiar ringing in her ears she could hear the Vehicons shouting, most in panic, and the scrabbling she knew was them trying to claw their way out again.

"That'll hold them for a little while." She mumbled to herself. "Hopefully long enough for us to get in and out of the Core."

She turned to head back to Prime and the others, but then hesitated.

"I have a long memory too." She murmured before finally heading back down the tunnel towards Prime and the Core.

...

"Sweet Primus..."

Optimus wasn't sure who said it – or if they had all said it – he just knew it was a spark deep prayer.

A large sphere of raw, white energy, almost crystalline in nature, stood before them. It was supported by three large, gray blocks growing out of the floor beneath it and one claw-like appendage on top, like a crystal ball held still on display. As they watched, sparks of energy shot across its surface like flickers of electricity, sparking in a flash of light and skittering across the surface before being pulled back in.

But the white of the energy was now marred with large streaks of violet. Dark energon crystals bloomed out of the sparking energy like beautiful, parasitic flowers. And all throughout the room the harsh _whoosh, swish, whoosh _of overworked vents came and went, like labored breathing.

The Autobots had finally reached the Core.

Optimus Prime finally became aware of a strained whimper pressing itself on his senses. At first he had thought that it was the Core straining against the dark energon spearing it, but when he turned around he saw the sound was actually coming from Cloudraker. The young flier was holding the side of his head as if it hurt, but his optics were fastened onto the infected Core.

"Hey kid," Ironhide said, even his voice lowered and more subdued in the presence of the Core of Cybertron, "kid you alright?"

Cloudraker's optics remained so fixed on the Core that Optimus wondered if he _could_ look away. Another strained noise escaped his vocorder and he pressed his hand harder against his head.

"Hear it-" he finally managed to say through clenched teeth, "-I can hear it. Hurts."

"What hurts Cloudraker?" Nathanial spoke up from down near their feet.

"Core." He said tightly. "The Core hurts."

Optimus and Ironhide shared a glance. "You can feel what the Core feels?" Optimus asked the young bot softly.

"Yes." He said, wings starting to shake now. "No. Too close. Too much dark energon. Hurts."

Ironhide carefully pulled on the young Seeker's arm. "Come on kid. Let's get some space 'tween you and this-" he jerked a thumb at the sight behind him, "abomination."

He had pulled him back a bare step when a noise so deep they felt it appeared. It shook the floor beneath them, slightly at first, but then grew louder until the entire room was shaking around them. Optimus threw his arms out, straining for balance and watching for anything that might fall on their heads from above them. Somehow, even above the deep noise of the monstrous call, he heard Cloudraker start to shout.

The young mech shook off Ironhide, making the older mech fall to the floor with a thud that was lost in the clamor. Not able to walk across the vibrating floor, Optimus watched as Cloudraker powered up his boots and flew across the room so fast that Prime had no chance of stopping him.

The noise kept droning even as Cloudraker made contact with the first dark energon crystal. Optimus felt his optics widen as the young bot grabbed the thick, purple crystal and wrenched it into pieces with his bare hands. The crystal shattered, little pieces of hardened violet energon flying everywhere and landing in the crevices in the Seeker's armor.

But he didn't stop. Still shouting something Optimus couldn't hear, Cloudraker flew at the rest of the dark energon, tearing it away form the Core in massive chunks before throwing them to the side where they slid across the steel floor until coming to a stop against the rounded walls.

The noise didn't die down until Cloudraker had forcibly removed most of the offending energon spikes. As the shaking died down and the sound dwindled into a deep moan, Cloudraker slid down to the floor, his only support one of the base prongs keeping the Core aloft.

He sat there, vents wide open, as the older bots watched him with wide optics. Neither was sure what to make of the usually calm jet's sudden frenzy.

It was Nathanial that finally broke the silence. "You," he said slowly, "you alright there Cloud?" He asked like one would ask someone with questionable sanity.

Optimus didn't miss the flicker of the younger bot's optics as he heavily cycled air. "I," he stammered, "I don't know. I don't-" He finally noticed the slivers of dark energon clinging to his frame and hastily began to brush them off.

"I could hear it." He said a moment later as Nathanial pulled on his gloves and helped him remove dark energon from his armor. "I could hear it screaming in my head. I just-I couldn't take it anymore!" He insisted frantically, as if he was afraid they all thought he was crazy.

"It's alright Cloudraker." Optimus said slowly, hoping to erase his anxiety. "There are many things we do not understand about the Core. Bots other than you have claimed to hear it before."

The young bot slumped farther against the prong supporting him, not enough to say he was completely at ease, but enough for Optimus and Ironhide to notice.

"Hmph," Ironhide vented in disbelief. "You ask me it was more dark energon making you all wonky than the Core talkin-"

He suddenly trailed off. Optimus turned towards his long time friend, concerned. The black mech's optics were wide and he was staring at the Core now too.

Optimus felt his optic ridges furrow. "Ironhide?" He asked, reaching out to place a hand on the other mech's shoulder. "What is it?"  
><em>Prime...<em>

The same ghostly voice as before drifted across his processor, making him freeze in mid-motion.

_Hear me Optimus Prime._ It said again. No, Optimus realized, not it. He. The voice was distinctly masculine.

Optimus was dimly aware of letting his hand drop back down to his side. "I hear you Core." He heard himself answer.

Silence followed his words, enough to make him wonder if he had imagined everything. But when the voice spoke again, it sounded wearier than before, as if it took every ounce of energy it had to make this contact.

_I have asked...much of you Optimus Prime. _The voice intoned breathlessly. _And I will ask even more before you are called home to the Well of AllSparks._

A small part of Optimus' spark – the part that was still Orion Pax deep down – cringed at the Core's words, instinctively knowing they were true. What made them worse was that he wasn't sure how much worse the future could get, considering the present.

_I am...sick. _The Core murmured, his voice dimming to almost nothing for a terrifying moment. _I...cannot sustain you for much longer. I must...rest._

"Rest?" Optimus asked, his spark squeezing in a flash of anxiety.

The Core seemed to understand his intent. It chuckled softly, more of the energy skitters running across its surface when he did. _My spark is not extinguished yet Optimus Prime. Indeed, I will outlive you. As I have outlived all of your brethren, save one._

_ But I must sleep._ The Core told him, immediately sobering. _Before Unicron's blood infects me completely. If that happens, then not even you will be able to save what remains of my creations. I must hibernate in order to purge myself of my brother's infection. When I do, nothing I have created will be able to survive on Cybertron's surface._

Stunned at what he was hearing, Optimus couldn't find any words for a long moment. Dimly he heard a small sound behind him; the skidding of small feet coming to a quick stop on metal floors followed by a brief, feminine gasp. Ariah had arrived.

Somehow, Optimus managed to shove down his questions, his doubts and his fears, and he looked again up at the Core. He could feel it watching him back with calm optics.

"What must I do to save them?" Optimus Prime asked.

Again, the Core was temporarily silent. Optimus felt that it was getting harder and harder for him to speak. Or perhaps more of his attention was being spread between the others in the room. Distantly Prime knew that the Core was speaking to them too, however he could not hear what he was telling them.

_You must leave Cybertron._

Prime reeled back in shock. "No!" Optimus shouted without realizing it.

The Core seemed to sigh. _I have been poisoned Optimus. I am sick and I feel my frame and spark withering because of it. Any who stay will be extinguished. I cannot change that _the Core said sternly _and you cannot lay this burden aside._

_ You must lead them outward. Back to the stars. You have been there before and there are still explorers on Cybertron. They will remember the way._

So many questions. Optimus couldn't speak because he had so many questions. How would he get everyone off planet? Where would they go? What about the Decepticons? Should he just leave them here to die?

But the one he finally managed to ask, in an awkward, awed whisper was, "What will we see?"

He felt the Core smile at him. _Everything._ He whispered. _Things more amazing than even _you_ have imagined._

Again the Core chuckled, energy skittering over him. _And you have imagined quite a lot Optimus Prime._

Optimus fidgeted, feeling more like an errant youngling in front of its guardian than a Prime for a moment.

But the moment ended quickly. "They won't all listen to me. Even some of the Autobots-" the more stubborn ones, "-won't leave just because I tell them too. And there are others – Neutrals. Captives. I cannot leave them behind."

The Core seemed to vent a forlorn sigh. _I know._ He said tiredly. _I have heard their sparks crying out for help for so long now that I will never forget them for as long as my spark burns. You must leave your captives here. I will look after my creations as best I can. But I am so weary..._

He sounded almost child-like in his weariness for a moment that Prime dared take a step closer, pitying him.

_You must take the Neutrals with you. It is time they find their own place in the stars as well as you. You are Prime. They will listen._

"Not all of them." Optimus told him.

_Then you must make them listen! _The Core suddenly thundered and Optimus felt himself step back again. Megatron he could handle without flinching, but hearing the Core's anger made his spark shudder.

The Core calmed again and when it spoke next it was again in a weary, forlorn tone. _I know of their stubbornness as well as their doubt, but if they do not leave now then they never will. Tell them this._

Prime nodded, hesitating only a nano-klik. "Yes Core."

The violet within the Core's energy grew brighter a moment and Optimus felt the whole room shudder again. They did not have much longer.

_I have no Matrix to give you. _The Core told him, speaking softer now. _No sign that will tell others you are one of my children. You must find it._

Optimus nodded without hesitation now. "Yes Core."

The Core's voice was growing weaker now. _Others will doubt you. You will doubt yourself. But even then you will know who you are._

"And," Optimus asked carefully, "who is that?"

The Core's voice was so weak that for a moment Optimus thought he was now unable to speak. But again the words drifted across his processor.

_You...are the last of the Primes._

_ Till all are one._

And with that, the Core's voice faded away, leaving nothing behind but the constant hum of overworked machinery.

With military precision, Optimus inclined his head and brought a fist over his spark.

"Til all are one." He affirmed.

...

The square metal room was completely empty by the time Aria found it again except for the offline frames of two unfortunate Vehicons.

Ignoring the too-still frames as best she could, Aria scoured the room for the others before finally noticing that the back wall had parted, revealing another room on the other side. She heard Optimus' familiar voice ask a question from inside and quickly ran towards it.

And then came to a skidding stop when she caught sight of the brilliant ball of energy twisting at its center.

She gasped as her eyes trailed over the sphere of energy, the violet stains that marred its surface, and the shattered remains of dark energon crystals now littering the floor.

Careful to avoid the violet chips, Aria made her way deeper into the room. For some reason the others were standing so still that for a moment she thought they were offline too. But she could still feel Ironhide, and to a lesser extent Cloudraker and Optimus, through her spark, so she knew that they were still alive.

"Optimus?" She called. "Ironhide? Guys we shouldn't stay here too long. I know they're not all that smart, but those Vehicons sure are determined. They're gonna dig their way out sooner rather than later and seeing as one of 'em wants my head on his wall, I'd feel a whole lot better if we got out of here before he gets the ch-"

She was cut off by a voice. One so soft, so beautiful, so comforting that just hearing it made tears spring into her eyes.

_Hello Sparkfinder,_ it said...

...

_I have been waiting a long time to meet you young Sparkfinder. Your name fits you well._

Aria blinked. Somehow she _knew_ the voice was coming from the Core, just like she somehow _knew_ that it was talking to everybody else at the same time even though she couldn't hear what they heard.

But even with all that strangeness, she still couldn't help but think that was a weird thing to say.

"Excuse me?" She asked, not knowing what else to say.

The Core somehow chuckled, despite the fact that it didn't have a mouth. _Sparkfinder suits you young one. It is a good name. One you will be remembered by long after you have returned to the earth._

Given where she'd been living for the past who-knew-how-long, Aria could have understood that to mean 'once she'd managed to get back to the planet Earth'. But she knew that's not how he had meant it.

She swallowed hard at the mention of her death. "Yeah, right." She finally said the first thing that came to mind.

She felt the Core raise the energy equivalent of an eyebrow at her. _Why so incredulous Sparkfinder? Don't you know how important you are in this?_

Aria blinked at the question. Was he serious?

"Look Core," she said, trying to brush away her discomfort, "I appreciate the sentiment, and you're a very nice energy...crystal...thing," she stopped, knowing just how far _that_ had gotten away from her, "but I know I'm just a supporting character in all this. Sparkfinder's just an honorary title. I'm just Aria." She told him with a half hearted shrug. "Just Jie Mei. I'm not anything special." Her shoulders slumped at the admission and she looked away from the Core, as if suddenly thinking she had no right to look at it.

She was just about blown off her feet by the Core's sudden blast of laughter.

_Aria Sparkfinder – first of the Techno-organics – Nothing special! Ha!_

Aria stared at him as he started booming with laughter again, white energy skittering around the almost crystallized sphere in the center of the room. He was so loud that she covered her ears, but that didn't do a thing to block out the sound, although she noticed that none of the others seemed to hear it either.

"What the heck's so funny?!" She finally demanded, hands still clapped over her ears.

Even then Core's laughter receded slowly, until Aria was sure that if had had optics he would have been leaking coolant tears all over the place.

_You foolish little creature!_ He finally said through his dwindling laughter.

Aria glared. "Hey!" She shouted, but got no further in her telling off.

_You will do great things Sparkfinder._ The Core told her, sounding as if he already knew what those supposedly 'great things' were. _You have already _done_ great things. How many other humans could have survived here?_ He asked her, seeming to spread himself wide to take in every inch of Cybertron.

Aria frowned at him anxiously. "But that wasn't because I'm anything special." She insisted. "I just had to find my sister. I couldn't leave her here!" She insisted somewhat defensively.

The Core seemed to nod as if understanding her answer. _I understand your love for your sister young one. Solus felt much the same, although I did not understand her when she tried to explain it to me. You remind me of her at times young Sparkfinder._

Aria blinked at the causal reference to the first femme, the Forger, Solus Prime. He was just messing with her when he said they were like each other, right?

_But returning to your earlier question,_ he continued as if it was no big deal, _just how many other organic femmes do you know that could have kept seven younglings in line for so long?_

He said it like it was a trick question, so Aria didn't answer.

The Core seemed to realize this and instead shook his head. Or, whatever he had instead of a head anyway. _You keep insisting you are nothing special Sparkfinder. Why are you so afraid of being great and necessary?_

Aria gave the Core an all out glare. "Because I'm not great and necessary!" She told him, rather louder than she had meant to. "And I'm not going to lie and pretend I am to make myself feel better." She insisted.

_But you are necessary. My creations would not be so well off if it wasn't for you Sparkfinder._

Aria openly scoffed and resisted the urge to turn in a frustrated circle. "Anyone could have been driving along that road when the space bridge freaked out." She told him.

_But it wasn't anybody._ Core pointed out calmly, only infuriating Aria more. _It was you and your sister._

"Only now Sera's gone and I'm stuck here alone!" Aria shouted suddenly. "Even my younglings have outgrown me now Core. I can't help them anymore! I have nothing. I _am_ nothing!"

She stopped, arms held straight at her sides as the words landed with the force of a hammer on an anvil in her ears. "So tell me Core," she eventually continued, hands balled up into fists, "just tell me what exactly I'm supposed to have done that's so fraggin' _great?"_

The Core soaked up her angry words, and as her temper reduced to a simmer, Aria thought he was looking at her sadly.

Then he seemed to shake his head. Or whatever it was that spheres of energy had instead of heads. _You have already given them so much, Sparkfinder, but it seems you will never truly realize that. For that...I am sorry._

Feeling somewhat ashamed of her outburst now, Aria looked away again and forcibly relaxed her clenched hands. "It's not your fault." She mumbled.

Core sighed. _Aria Sparkfinder, look at me._ He told her gently.

She did, and when she saw the sphere of violet tinged energy again, she felt that he had pinned her with a firm but gentle stare, despite his sickness.

_You have served as a quiet reminder to my creations of what they are fighting for Sparkfinder. Of what is still worth fighting for. You think yourself useless because you cannot fight alongside them, but that is not true. You inspire them to keep faith that all of their pain and loss will not go in vain. You remind them that innocence is not a waste. That falling to the Decepticons' level in order to win is not worth it in the end._

_ You give them faith that one day things will be better._

_ Don't give up your own faith so easily Sparkfinder._

"Til all are one."

Aria visibly jumped as Optimus' voice suddenly boomed from nearby. She looked up at him, and then quickly back at the Core, but the energy sphere was now silent. Instinctively she knew he had nothing else to say to her.

Aria wasn't sure how to feel about that. A large part of her wanted to shout, "Is that it?!", but she knew it wouldn't help. Somehow she managed to swallow the words down, but another part of her wanted so badly for what the Core had said to be true that she ached. But for some reason she wasn't sure if she should trust the Core's words. But then, why would he lie to her?

Prime's somber words had broken whatever spell had been hovering over them all. And as she looked around, Aria was a little surprised that she didn't feel like it had all been a dream, like she had half hoped.

She looked over to see Cloudraker still staring at the Core in awe, but she knew he couldn't hear him anymore either, because he looked up at Ironhide when the older bot came to help him up off the floor. Ironhide himself looked grim, like he'd just received bad news, but knew he had no other choice than to accept it.

Nathanial was the most changed. Aria noticed with a start that his eyes were red, but his back was straight, his shoulders squared. She hadn't noticed before now, but ever since Tyger Pax, Nat's shoulders had been bent slightly with the force of his guilt, like he thought there was nothing he could ever do to make up for his lie.

But now, now he looked like his old self, but even more so. No lies to keep hidden, no more worrying about what everyone would think.

Aria thought he looked like he had been forgiven.

She expected to feel rather angry at the idea, or at the very least slightly irritated, but no. Maybe she was too tired, maybe it was her talk with the Core – maybe it had just been so weird a day that it didn't matter anymore – but she wasn't angry.

Aria turned away from Nat before he could look over at her. Today had been too weird, she decided. She couldn't deal with the whatever-it-was she was feeling right now. She was still having trouble processing just what had happened with the Core to deal with anything else.

She looked up at Optimus to find him looking back at the rest of them. Like Ironhide, he looked like he'd just received heavy news, but instead of looking grim, he looked determined.

"What now Prime?" Ironhide asked, voice heavier than usual.

Prime blinked his optic shutters and looked over at the other mech. "We must return to the surface. The Core has told me what me must do and we have very little time."

Ironhide nodded and looked at the ground, like he'd expected this, but still wished Prime had said just about anything else.

Cloudraker looked between the two older mechs before carefully saying, "The Core told me that someone was coming to take us to the surface. They should be here any klik."

Optimus nodded. "Very well." He said gravely and then walked towards the doors to wait for their guide, Ironhide joining him in silence.

"What else did the Core tell you?" Aria asked her brother as he joined her.

Cloudraker looked back at the Core, and then looked back at his sister. He shook his head slowly.

Aria understood. She supposed she didn't want to talk much about what Core had told her either.

She patted his leg to show she understood and he sent her a grateful squeeze down their informal bond.

Neither was aware of Nathanial's presence behind them until he asked, "Is that your guide Cloud?"

Cloudraker and Aria looked up towards the giant doorway. If they listened hard, they could just make out the sound of footsteps past the hum of machinery.

"Sounds like bots." Cloudraker said.

Aria was the first to realize just which tunnel the bots' footsteps were coming from.

"Take cover!" She screamed.

Just as the hoard of Steves, led by a raging optic Roger, burst into the square room.

...

Optimus and Ironhide dove for cover just as the Vehicons opened fire. Their laser fire splashed against the door frame in violet puddles too close to the Autobot's heads for comfort. Aria noticed as she ducked down on the other side of the open door that even the Decepticon fire barely scorched the ancient surface of the Core's housing.

Ironhide half rose, cannons whirring, but didn't get a chance to fire back before ducking down again as three of the Vehicons suddenly fixated on his head.

"Well now what?" He shouted crossly over the noise.

If anyone answered him, Aria didn't hear them over the noise of gunshot and the general ringing in her ears. She eased around the side of the partially open door and managed to get a brief glimpse of the console room before Roger noticed her.

She threw herself backwards, but still felt the force of the blast slamming into the wall where her head had been. Nathanial was crouched down on her other side and she sent him a hard look.

"I really hate Roger." She told him, somehow being heard over the chaos.

"How many are out there?" He asked, not really sure how to respond to that.

Another volley of shots hit the door, making it vibrate against her back. "About ten." She answered him. "That's still about five less then when they all went in and they don't look too happy about it."

Another shuddering set of blasts made that even more obvious.

Aria tried to think past the noise. "I've only got one of Wheeljack's bombs left, but they were too spread out so I don't know how much good it'll do. "

Nathanial craned his neck to look at the metal wall they were hiding behind. "How close were they to the wall?" He asked.

Aria followed his line of sight, but it didn't give her any better idea at what he was thinking. "Pretty close I guess-" she started.

Nat just nodded and twisted himself around so that he was facing the half open door head on. "Get away from the door." He told her as he pulled out his own strange looking weapon.

Sharing a concerned look with Cloudraker, Aria quickly sat away from the wall. "What-"

"Just back up!" Nat told her.

Confused, Aria and Cloud watched as the other human pointed his flash gun at the partially open door and pulled the trigger.

Aria flinched automatically, expecting a loud bang and ricocheting bullets, but all there was was a brief _zztt! _noise like an electric fence being turned on.

From the other side of the metal wall there was a chorus of shouting Steves, followed by a series of loud thumps as they either fell to the floor or scrambled to get away from the suddenly electrified wall.

Aria blinked at Nathanial as the flash gun ran out of charge. "I forgot you could do that..." she muttered. He just grinned back at her.

She shook herself and pulled the last explosive from her belt and waited for the blinking numbers to show it was ready. She looked over at Ironhide and the black mech nodded once to show he understood her non-verbal request. The whine of his cannons rose high enough that it barely registered to Aria's hearing as he fired blindly around the corner, gathering the Vehicons' attention long enough for Aria to lean around the door and fling the bomb into the console room.

The Autobots and the humans ducked their heads, expecting the usual good sized boom that came with practically everything Wheeljack touched.

What they got was an explosion whose aftershock knocked both humans to the floor and threatened to take the Autobots down too before fading.

"Ow..." Aria whined as she unglued her nose from the hard floor. "What the heck was that?"

Cloudraker leaned a hand against the wall to stabilize his balance, and then quickly removed it when he was lightly zapped by the lingering electricity from Nathanial's flash gun. "Dunno." He answered. "Wasn't just the bomb though..."

A familiar, bone-shaking roar suddenly rang out from the other side of the door.

Aria felt her eyes go wide. "Oh come _on-_" she started to say.

"It's the Underworlders," Nathanial hissed from beside the door, "they're back!"

Aria forced herself up on her hands and knees and scrabbled over to the other human, careful to keep the door between her and the creatures. She shared a frightened look with Nat before peering around the edge of the door.

Her small gasp went unnoticed with the noise now filling up the other room. The Underworlders – led by the same one that had taken an unhealthy interest in Nat earlier – had charged through the main tunnel, ramming through the main door that had previously blocked their path.

For only a nano-klik, the Vehicons were silent as they stared at the monsters they had tried so hard to convince themselves weren't real. But then the lead Underworlder gave his own terrifying cry and their fluids ran cold in their frames.

They opened fire on the monsters, forgetting the Autobots still hidden in the Core's chamber. Their laser fire spattered against already blackened armor and for the first instant, the Underworlders drew back.

But then they realized that it didn't hurt. It was just really annoying.

Aria's eyes went wide from where she peered around the door. She watched in horror as the first creature snatched up an unfortunate Vehicon in its jaws, flung him around like a rag doll until his spine snapped, and then tossed him against the far wall.

Aria ducked back and pressed a hand tight against her mouth. "I _really _didn't need to see that." She said past her hand.

Nat, his face whiter than earlier, just nodded.

Aria swallowed past her dry mouth and dared to take her hand away. "If these are supposed to be our guides, then the Core is more twisted then I thought." She mumbled in wide eyed horror as the Underworlders tore through the Decepticons like tissue paper, stealing armor and gorging themselves on their internals as they went.

Cloudraker flinched, looking sick, as a three legged creature with sulfurous yellow light showing through his armor at the joints slit a Vehicon from nose to naval with its tail before sinking its fangs into the mech's gut. "Primus I hope not." He muttered before looking away altogether from the slaughter.

"I don't think so," Nathanial spoke up before pointing at the hole the Underworlders had come through, "I think he sent _them_."

Aria and Cloudraker followed his pointing finger to the freshly made hole the mechanical monsters had made. The dust was still settling, making it difficult to see into the murk, but even then they could just make out the faint movement of something else coming their way. Something big, even by Cybertronian standards.

Aria groaned and hung her head, looking frustrated. "Now what?" She moaned."I don't know how many more of these freaky surprises I can take."

Nathanial suddenly snorted laughter behind her left shoulder and Aria snapped her head up. "Is that _funny_ to you?" She demanded angrily.

Nathanial quickly shook his head, but he was still trying to keep back a ridiculous grin. Aria's frown deepened. What the heck was _funny_ about _any _of this?

Nat managed to get enough of a hold on himself to say, "No, but you might not want to look up just yet. I don't think Core is done with his 'freaky surprises'."

_"Well now I have to look."_ Aria thought as she, slowly, turned her head to see just what was coming through the veil of falling dust.

When she did, her eyes just about popped right out of her head in shock.

Next to her, Nathanial just started laughing again.

"Oh you have _got _to be _kidding _me." Aria said as she stared at the giant, mechanical creatures now slouching their way out of the dark. Their bodies were thick and thickly plated, walls of Cybertronian metal muscle that made Aria feel even smaller than usual. "Slugs?" She somehow managed to work her mouth. "_Slugs?!_ We're trapped underground and he sends us _giant slugs_ to get us out? Is he _high_ on dark energon now?"

Nathanial just laughed harder at that.

"B-but look," he said through his ridiculous laughter, "they got little gun turrets on their backs." He snorted laughter again. "They're _weaponized_ slugs."

Behind them, Cloudraker coughed to try and cover up his own, slightly hysteric laughter.

"Slugs with guns," Aria muttered, "_slugs_ with _guns_." She half turned towards the Core behind her. "What the heck is _wrong_ with you?" She muttered before turning back.

She wasn't sure, what with all the noise coming from the console room, but she thought she heard the Core laugh behind her. It sounded kind of like static on a shag carpet.

The console room was now a churning mess of combatants...if that's what you called Steves getting eaten by monsters which were now getting pounded by giant metal slugs with cannons strapped to their backs.

"I'm delusional." Aria finally decided as one of the slugs turned around and smashed the Underworlder that had just sunk its teeth into its side, with the force of a train running into a deer. "I'm _actually _seeing things. It's the only thing that makes sense."

Nathanial rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "Delusional or not, our ride is here." He said pulling her to her feet. "So let's get out of here before the Underworlders realize that organics are easier to catch than Steves."

Aria got to her feet almost automatically as she continued to mutter to herself under her breath. It wasn't until Ironhide gave a whoop and holler that made her ears start to ring again that Aria realized he and Optimus had already left their cover and were lying down cover fire for her, Nat, and Cloudraker.

Optimus was standing near the head of the closest slug, shooting at the Underworlders still paying them attention. But Ironhide was already standing on the giant, gunmetal gray beast's back, and was using the guns mounted there to change the minds of anyone foolish enough to pay them any attention.

Aria blinked as Nat dragged her forward, Cloudraker covering them from above. "How'd he get up there?" She asked, staring in confusion up at Ironhide. He looked like he was enjoying this _way _too much.

"Doesn't matter." Nathanial shot back. "You're delusional, remember?"

"Oh. Right." She certainly _felt_ rather delusional. The stress must be getting to her.

She still had enough of her wits to lasso her rope around one of the turrets though, and it wasn't long before she was on top of one of the slugs herself. She couldn't hear much as the slug's guns fired into the crowd of enemies, but as she watched a set of Vehicons finally take down one of the Underworlders with a volley of laser fire, she realized she probably didn't want to hear the death screams filling the cavern anyway.

Nat made short work of the climb and soon he was standing next to her. "How do we drive this thing?" He shouted over the percussion of the turret firing, looking around as if he expected to find a steering wheel somewhere.

"How the heck should I know?" Aria shot back in between fire. "It's a _giant slug!"_

Seeing that the rest of the Autobots had gotten to the relative protection of the metal slugs, Optimus left off firing on Roger and found his own ride on the lead slug.

As if that was the signal they had been waiting for (and Aria felt crazy even _thinking_ that the slugs were smart enough to have waited for them at all) the slugs broke away from the main fight. And they were _fast_. Fast enough that Aria was almost knocked off as their own giant metal beast turned around and began to slide back the way it had come. Only Cloudraker's hand at her back kept her from going over and landing in the slug's slime trail.

As they rocketed into the darkness of the Underworld for the last time, Aria found Nathanial's eyes in the brief gray light.

"Delusional or not," she told him as the noise of dying Vehicons and ravenous Underworlders receded into the background, "this definitely cracks the top five for 'weirdest missions ever'_._"

She got no disagreement as they left the Core behind them, and the slugs sharply angled their route back to the surface and the Well of AllSparks.


	36. Chapter 36: Flight Prep

Yay! Finally got a chapter up on time! I feel so proud of me! ;) It came out much sadder than I expected, but I think that's good at this point. We're well into the sorrowful part of the story so why not bask in it while I can?

Oh dear, that sounded almost morbid didn't it? n_n;; oh well...

Great big thanks go to Bee4ever, Autobot Phoenix, BriarRose10001, icanhascamaro, Flarefox (who I must ask not to panic during this chapter! o.O), L.M.L, Totem Prime, Khalthar, Fallen Angel 1234, Guest (thank you! I'm so glad you thought it was funny! And I'm _really_ glad you love my story so much! XD Whee!), Cloud-Dancer103, extracutegurl9, and Autobot-Bre for your wonderful, wonderful reviews! And I'm so glad that most of you seemed to think the all out strangeness of the last chapter was funny. I was a little worried about that I will admit. n_n; And who knows _what _those game designers were thinking of when they put those slugs in the game. I mean _really_.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter, especially since I think it works real nice, especially the first section. (That was fun including all those new bots. :3) And please leave me some comments when you're done! (sparkly anime eyes are given for good measure here) ;3

And remember, at the end (especially you Flarefox): Don't. Panic. o.O Seriously.

...

The Long Road Home

36 – Flight Prep – 36

Iacon's central communications hub was a mass of movement and noise that threatened to hijack the little bit of sanity Elita-One still had left in her processor. Bots around the room were all speaking at once, sending and receiving messages before filing them by levels of importance and sending them on to whoever needed to get them.

The room itself was shaped like a squashed circle, leaving no out of the way corners where Elita could wait without impeding anyone else. Instead she had chosen to wait near the center of room, just outside the main projector that sat in the middle of the oval room. Blaster was busy in the projection center itself, shouting instructions at the other communications bots around the edge of the room. They were seated at various control boards, doing what they could to make sure that Soundwave wouldn't be able to hack into the signal once they started, although with so many different parties, it was going to be beyond difficult.

Under the chaotic noise of the room, Elita heard the low sound as her sparkmate vented a sigh.

"This will not be easy." He murmured so that only she, and possibly Prowl on his other side, could hear. Privately Elita agreed. Dealing with the neutral parties was always difficult, even when they _didn't_ despise the Autobots for their part in the war. And the longer the war went on, the fewer neutrals there were that didn't blame them on some level for the destruction of their home.

It was a sad fact, but many of the neutrals thought the Autobots were just as much villains as the Decepticons were. To the older ones especially, the Autobots were just the remains of Sentinel Prime's old order, bots that would gladly go back to the strict ways of the deceased Prime's caste system.

It had been worse closer to the start of the war. Fortunately things had changed and the Decepticons' brutality had made a good part of the neutrals rethink things. Even more of them had come to respect Optimus as their Prime after he had offered them the choice of refusing to join the Autobots so they could remain unaligned to either side.

However, most still respected his title of Prime without respecting him. It infuriated Elita to no end, but there was practically nothing she could do about it. Optimus had been made Prime so suddenly that many of the neutrals were still wary of his leadership. There just hadn't been time enough for him to prove himself as a capable leader to them, and they were too distant from the Autobots to have seen the great strides and sacrifices he had already made as Prime.

During the vorns since then, the neutrals had melted away into the background, avoiding contact with both Decepticons and Autobots unless they absolutely had to. Elita knew that now was definitely one of those times, but she doubted the neutrals would listen to them without putting up a good fight first. Still...

"What other choice do we have?" Elita whispered back, reaching over and putting a hand on his arm. "We can't just leave them here." No matter how much she wished she could just slap some particular bots into stasis pods and leave them somewhere. They'd still survive, she just wouldn't have to deal with them for a nice long while.

Elita mentally put away the thought and quietly reprimanded herself. The planet was about to tear itself apart so that it could purge the dark energon and heal. It would take eons, and some of them would never see their home again, so no one could be left behind.

"At least now they won't be able to doubt your right as Prime." Elita said instead. "Not with the Core telling you himself."

Optimus vented another sigh, and Elita heard the relief hidden underneath the sound. She knew that for vorns the idea that the high council had been wrong had haunted him, but no one else had any kind of claim as Prime, so Optimus had pressed forward despite his uncertainty.

Some of the neutrals hadn't been as forgiving. They knew as well as any other bots that the high council technically had no right to name a Prime. Legend said that in the stellar cycles after the Breaking of the Thirteen, the early Primes had been marked by Solus Prime's legendary sword, the Star Saber. It was an unmistakable sign of office, since only a Prime could wield the infamous sword.

Of course, no one had seen the Star Saber for ages now and many believed it never actually existed in the first place. But other stories said that it had been broken during a great battle between the Fallen and Primon after the last of the Thirteen had killed the rest of his brothers. Of course this didn't make sense with the other numerous stories that told about Nexus Prime's adventures throughout the stars or Alchemist Prime going after Liege Maximo, so no one really believed it.

However most bots _did_ believe that the Matrix of Leadership was real, and the Matrix was rumored to have once been the hilt of the Star Saber. Maybe it was just a story, maybe not, but either way, the lore had only increased the Matrix's importance in naming Primes. Rumor said that Sentinel Prime had been chosen by the Matrix of Leadership back during the war with the Quintessons.

But like so many things from that time, the Matrix too had been lost. Until now only the council had even a shadow of the right to name a Prime.

"It will help," Optimus agreed, "but not all of them will believe that the Core spoke to me, or to any of us. But it will help some."

Still in the center of the communication ring, Blaster straightened up and looked over at the three officers. "I've got the last of the neutrals standing by Prime and the security's about as good as it's gonna get. We're ready whenever you are."

Prime nodded at the Autobot Communications Officer and gave Elita's hand a squeeze before making his way to the center of the ring. The bots still inside quickly vacated as Blaster signaled the mech Sprite to patch Prime into the channel where the neutrals were waiting.

Four blue-white holograms sprung into existence in front of Optimus, revealing five somewhat fuzzy figures. From her spot behind him outside the ring, Elita inspected each of the faces of the main neutral leaders. In the center, Metalhawk appeared to be his usual stern self, while Spectra next to him was watching Optimus with her usual level of superiority that had Elita's hackles rising. Crankshaft, the oldest mech there and leader of the largest group of neutrals on the planet, appeared on Metalhawk's other side, face more weathered since the last time Elita had seen him.

Off to the far side, the last two figures shared a projector. Dovetail looked smaller than the Autobot femme remembered, especially compared to the broad shouldered mech standing at attention behind her. The youngest neutral leader's silver-white armor was almost hanging off her frame in spots. Worry rose in Elita's spark at the sight of the younger femme. Time and again Dovetail had proven herself capable of keeping the other neutrals with her safe from the Decepticons, but she did have a self-sacrificing streak in her that, if left unchecked, usually landed her in the medbay with an energon drip to keep her under-fueled systems from going into shut down.

Usually it was the mech behind her that kept that streak in check. Aves was one of the few fliers that had gotten out of Vos before it had been ransacked. He had joined up with the Aerialbots shortly after that, but in an effort to save a fellow Autobot at the battle for the Hydrax Plateau, a Decepticon had torn his wings up all to Pit and he'd been grounded ever since. Before he'd even healed properly, Aves had sought out Dovetail. Why specifically Elita didn't know, but he'd joined up with her group of neutrals after that, saying that at least there he could still be useful. As far as the femme commander knew, he'd been right behind the young femme's shoulder ever since.

"Greetings," Optimus began, nodding at the five blue-white frames in front of him. "I'm afraid I have grim news."

"Is there any other kind nowadays?" Spectra asked before he could say anything else.

Elita narrowed her optics at the older femme from outside the communications ring. Before the war, Spectra had been an elite-caste socialite, living in the all the glamour and prestige Crystal City had to offer. Even now most of the bots from that area listened to her, despite her rampant superiority complex, and for the life of her, Elita just couldn't understand why. At least Metalhawk, with his former military background, knew what he was doing. Elita could at least respect him, despite his prejudice against her Autobots, but Spectra just put her teeth on edge.

Optimus was better at ignoring the older femme's remark than the femme behind him. "The dark energon now spreading through the reservoirs has made its way into the planet. Already the Core of Cybertron has been infected."

Elita watched each of their faces as the news sunk in. At first they reacted much the same – their optics widened and faces went blank in shock – but the similarities lasted only a few kliks. Metalhawk's jaw tightened as he realized what this meant, Spectra drew herself up with a breath as she steeled herself for whatever came next, and Crankshaft shuttered his optics and briefly shook his head before opening them again.

"How can you be sure?" Metalhawk asked, his tone grim, but resigned. "There are still isolated springs that haven't turned yet. How can you be sure this...infection has reached the Core?"

"I have seen it," Optimus told him gravely, "as well as others with me. The Core is still resisting the dark energon, however without a chance to heal itself, it won't be able to last much longer."

"And how, exactly," Spectra asked acidly, "do we _heal_ something as ancient as the Core?"

Elita instinctively squared her shoulders. Now for the difficult-to-swallow bit.

A gruff snort prevented Optimus from answering Spectra's question. "We don't." Crankshaft grumbled as if that should be obvious. "Ya don't fix something as old n'powerful as the Core. Not unless you got some relic of the thirteen 'neath that glittery armor o' yours Specs."

Spectra drew herself up stiffly at the old mech's words, about ready to spit fire for the remark about her plating.

"For Primus' sake _shut up_," Aves spoke up before Spectra could really lay into the old mech. "Can't you two keep your mouths shut for two seconds? I swear all I've heard for the last orn is you two whining and I'm tired of it. If you have an opinion, _please_, for the rest of our sakes, keep it to _yourselves_."

Of course Spectra and Crankshaft couldn't take that lying down and immediately the three bots started to shout all at once. Elita sighed quietly. They'd only been talking for five cycles and already things were starting to fall apart at the seams. At this rate they would need divine intervention to get all these bots off planet.

_"Enough!_" Metalhawk's sharp voice cut through the sudden bickering. "If you're not going to be quiet long enough to hear what Prime has to say then I will cut your connections and you can find out what's going on later like the rest. Now be _silent_."

They immediately were. The sudden lack of noise had Elita raising her optic ridges at Prowl next to her, who sent her a look of resigned acceptance in return. They had heard rumors that Metalhawk had become a more central figure among the neutrals since his mentor Nightjar had joined the Well of AllSparks, but this confirmed it. And already aware of the mech's contempt to the war (along with its participants), Elita wondered somewhat anxiously if perhaps Autobot-neutral relations were only going to become more and more strained from now on.

Throwing one last glare at each other, Crankshaft and Spectra settled, turning their attention back to Prime.

Optimus stared down the both of them for a long moment, before returning to the topic at hand.

"As Crankshaft said, _we _will not be able to fix the Core." Optimus told them, and then before any of them could open their mouths again he added, "However while I was down there, the Core spoke to me. He told me that, with time, he would be able to purge himself of the dark energon."

Optic ridges around the ring rose at that, either wondering at the stability of the Prime's mental state or just plain surprise, Elita couldn't tell.

"However," Optimus continued, dropping the other boot, "he will not be able to support any kind of life while he heals. Therefore he told me that we must leave Cybertron."

His news shut even Spectra up. Metalhawk's mouth dropped open as Crankshaft's half finished shout abruptly turned into a hacking fit that shook his entire frame. Off to the side Dovetail fell heavily into a chair Aves quickly moved behind her, the announcement sweeping the strength out of her knees.

"_Leave_ Cybertron?" She breathed out, aghast.

It was the only thing any of them could think to say. Optimus nodded slowly at the youngest femme.

"But," Dove's optics darted around the room she was in before just as quickly focusing on Prime once more, "but how? And go where?"

Elita watched as Optimus pulled in cool air instead of answering the second question. "I have learned from Omega Supreme that one of the orbiting space bridges was reactivated when the AllSpark passed through it. Its energy is beginning to weaken, however for the moment it is still stable. We will follow the AllSpark through there."

"In _what?_" Spectra asked, sounding scandalized by all of this.

"We have already been collecting ships from the Hydrax Spaceport-"

"What remains of it." Aves mumbled stiffly, one hand instinctively reaching towards the jagged scar that ran across his hastily patched wing frame.

"-however if you can safely get anything space worthy, I would recommend holding onto it." Prime finished, looking around at each of the five faces in front of him.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Elita could see the neutrals still trying to wrap this new information around their processors, despite the bad connection that blurred their frames around the edges.

"This is madness." Spectra eventually mumbled, and then loud enough for them all to hear quite clearly, "This is _madness_. After all this time fighting you just expect us to _leave_?" She asked.

Elita's optics flicked to her mate's back. She knew he was having a hard time just accepting this, although he didn't let the five bots in front of him see that.

A hard laugh escaped Crankshaft before Optimus could answer the femme. "I knew it. I just _knew _nuthin' good would come of this." He flung a hard look at Prime. "Well I'm not havin' it. I was here afore any o' you even crawled out o' the Well of AllSparks and I'll be here long after you lot finish blowin' yerselves up! So I'm not leaving." He said obstinately.

"Then you will be extinguished." Optimus said bluntly. "Either by the Decepticons or dark energon. If we want to live, we must leave. We have no other choice."

Safely outside the ring where the three neutrals couldn't see her, Elita flinched. From the looks on their faces – even Aves who supported the Autobots even though he no longer was one – she knew that had been the wrong thing to say.

"No choice?" Metalhawk repeated, optic ridges rising slightly as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd just heard. "_Now_ we have no choice? None of us," he indicated the other neutrals present, "have had a choice in this matter since it began! And now look where your actions have gotten us. Our planet is _dying_ and now we are being forced to flee. Your war has finally killed Cybertron!"

Noise suddenly invaded the communications room as the five bots all began to shout again, either at Prime or each other. Even Dovetail waded into the fray in an attempt to remind Metalhawk to keep his head. But even her calm countenance wasn't enough to put a dent in the noise and the argument just grew more and more heated as everyone tried to be heard above the others. Elita looked over at Prowl again, wondering how best to regain control of the situation when someone finally managed to cut through the noise.

"SILENCE!" Optimus roared, making even the Autobots around the room jump in their seats. Instantly, the neutrals' wayward attention snapped to him and for a moment they were completely still as they each remembered who they were talking to.

Optimus looked firmly at each of the five bots in front of him, holding their gaze a klik as his authority sunk in. When he spoke again, his voice was soft, but deafening in the sudden stillness of the communications room.

"Cybertron," he said slowly, "is not dead. It is wounded, sick, but it will heal. The Core expects us to come _back_. And we will, maybe not as soon as bots would like," he watched them all again, "but one orbit we will be able to return and rebuild what we have lost.

"But until then," he continued in the same soft, frightening tone, "we must leave in order to survive. If you insist on remaining on the planet, I will not stop you, but know that you will perish. There will be no clean energon to sustain you.

"However if you chose to leave with us through the space bridge, we will see you safely to whatever new energon resources we can find. It may take some time to find, but the Core indicated that they exist. There may also be other bots out there if any of the colonies still exist who may be willing to take you in until Cybertron is healed."

Nobody spoke for a long moment, they were still so jittery. But finally Dovetail got up the courage to speak, although her voice was even softer than usual. "T-take us in?" She asked, sounding like a youngling that was afraid they'd been caught doing something they weren't supposed to. "Aren't we going to stick together?"

Some of the quiet danger left Optimus' voice as he turned to the youngest femme. "I do not expect so. We will do what we can to ensure your safety wherever the space bridge sends us, however the Autobots and I must find the AllSpark. Returning it to Cybertron would greatly ease the Core's burden and return the planet to a livable status that much sooner, as well as ensure the future of our race."

Metalhawk shifted slightly, gathering Optimus Prime's attention. This time the neutral waited for Prime to acknowledge him before speaking.

"But isn't it too dangerous to return the AllSpark to Cybertron while the dark energon lens is still here? If the AllSpark is contaminated..." he trailed off, unable to express his horror at the thought of what the future would be like if that happened.

"We will deal with it." Optimus said. Metalhawk waited for some kind of explanation, but Optimus refused to give one.

Privately, Elita wondered how they were going to pull that one off, but didn't voice her morbid curiosity.

After another moment of careful silence, Crankshaft snorted. "So," he said somewhat mulishly, "what now then?"

Optimus turned his head towards the old bot. "We have already started gathering ships," he said again, "however pilots are another matter. Anybot that knows how to fly should come forward so we can see how many ships we'll be able to get off the ground. You need to start gathering supplies now as well. Any fuel you can find to stretch our energon reserves needs to be saved. You need to be ready to leave as soon as possible."

He took another moment to look at each individual face. When he spoke again, his tone was more understanding than before. "I know how difficult this is for you to hear." He told them and Elita thought that most of them believed him. "This is a tremendous loss to all of us, but we will make it through these dark times. And I firmly believe that whatever lies beyond that portal is our best – and last – hope until the day when Cybertron is whole once more and we can return."

Prime met each of their optics, and Elita saw the way his steady gaze bolstered their individual courage. "Autobots will be in touch with you shortly to assist you in your preparations. Until then, you know what you need to do. Prime out."

The neutrals acknowledged the Prime before cutting their individual connections. The holograms faded out sharply, leaving a blue imprint on Elita-One's optics. She blinked it away and vented a quiet sigh.

"Well at least that's out of the way." She murmured to Optimus as he joined her on the outer edge of the ring.

Optimus nodded. Now they just had the Autobots' preparations to see too.

...

"What do you mean we can't go back?!"

Aria's shout held more than a little desperation in it and all around the hallway, heads twisted around to see what had the organic femme so upset.

Prime ignored them as he looked down at Aria, a sad but stern expression on his face as he made his way through the halls. "We don't have the time or the energon to spare Ariah. Everything we have is going to the ships and we need to get through the space bridge as quick as we can." He stopped walking and turned to look at Aria face to face before telling her softly. "I'm sorry Ariah, but we can't rescue Wheeljack."

"But," Aria's eyes were wide and frightened, "we can't just leave him!" She protested. "That's not what we do. We don't leave people behind!"

Optimus knelt down in front of his smallest friend and carefully put a digit on her shoulder. "Ariah, going back for him would use up energon that we cannot spare. We've got to conserve what we have left to get the ships off the ground. We might not have enough as it is, and anything we use means more bots won't be able to escape Cybertron before the Core begins its hibernation." He tilted his head to meet her eyes when she looked away. "Do you understand Ariah? They would perish. And Wheeljack wouldn't want that."

"But he's still alive!" She shouted frantically. "That's means he'll be left here when the place goes dark!"

Optimus hung his head. "I know." He murmured sadly.

Aria's mouth worked soundlessly a moment. She just couldn't believe this. They couldn't-he wouldn't- "But-" she finally remembered how to form words, "but it's _Wheeljack_. We-we need him. He's-" The words stopped coming as her throat closed up.

Optimus carefully nudged her smaller frame in understanding. "I know." He told her again.

The water collecting in Aria's eyes finally tumbled down her face. She reached up in surprise and dabbed at the wetness. She hadn't even realized they were there.

"Oh God," she mumbled, putting her face in her hands as a thought struck her, "poor Luna."

Optimus shuttered his optics a brief moment. He had spoken with Moonracer earlier. The femme had been near inconsolable since the engineer had vanished from Tyger Pax, but the news that they wouldn't even be able to search for him had hit her hard.

The _ping_ of an incoming message drew Prime's attention away from Aria. It was Hound, who'd been sent to help Spectra's group. Apparently the older femme's energon stockpiles were larger than they had accounted for – the first good news he'd heard all orbit! – but reports showed no clean way to get the much needed fuel out of Crystal City without the Decepticons finding them.

Optimus frowned. "Ariah, I have to go." He told her gently.

Aria only nodded, unable to speak.

Optimus sent her what comfort he could through their informal bond, before straightening up. He needed to talk to Jazz about a distraction so that Hound, the neutrals, and the energon could get safely to Iacon.

Aria didn't look up from her hands after he had left. This wasn't the first time she'd had to deal with loss. She'd lost friends before. But she'd never had to leave one behind. And, somehow, that was even worse.

Suddenly she felt she had to get out of here. If she stayed there any longer she'd just end up bawling like a newborn in the middle of the hallway and she was in no shape to hear anyone else's 'I'm sorries'.

The threat of being pitied was the only thing that convinced Aria to drop her hands away from her face and make her feet move. She headed towards the nearest door that would take her away from all the heartbreaking looks she felt being cast in her direction.

...

As he watched the scurry of bots carrying supplies to the massive ship Alpha Trion had _somehow_ pulled out of thin air, Nathanial couldn't help but think that the old mech had been expecting this mass exodus for some time now.

"So _where_ were you hiding this thing all these years?" He asked the Archivist standing next to him.

Alpha Trion didn't look up from his datapad as he checked and rechecked the list of supplies slated for the Autobots' new flagship, the _Ark_.

"What? This old thing?" He said instead as he glanced over the rim of the datapad at the ancient ship now listing slightly in the hanger it had mysteriously appeared in the other orbit. How the Archivist had got it in here Nathanial couldn't even guess, but here it was. "I found it...lying in a scrap heap outside of town."

Nathanial slid Alpha Trion a look. "Yeah, right." He grumbled. "If that were true it would have been bombed _long_ before now." He threw an arm out to take in the grit-covered rust-orange hull of the ship. "Look at that paintjob! Peg could spot it from space." He frowned. "If the very thought of space didn't send her spiraling down into aggressive panic attacks that is."

"Yes, how is that going to work?" Alpha Trion asked as he ticked another item off the list. "I heard about what happened down at the entrance to the Underworld. If she's that bad on the ground, how are you going to get her out of the atmosphere?"

Nathanial's frown deepened. "I'll tell you when I figure it out."

They watched in silence a moment as mechs and femmes, arms loaded with supplies and energon, went to and from the rounded ship. Overall Nat thought it had a peculiar shape, like a disk with a large Lego block stuck on behind it. The rectangular block had four thrusters jutting out the back, each one large enough that Nathanial, Peg, and Aria could have lived in one with more than enough space between them. Distantly, Nathanial wondered just what the ship had been used for in its previous life...and what it had done to deserve that awful paintjob.

"She's a thing of beauty, isn't she?" Someone asked from behind, startling Nathanial out of his thoughts.

The man glanced over his shoulder to see Sideswipe coming up behind them. His grin was even wider than usual as he propped his hands on his hips and beamed up at the _Ark_.

Nathanial snorted. "You're just saying that because Prime agreed to let you fly her. Although how you pulled that off, I'll never know."

"Easy human," Sideswipe said as he grinned and jabbed his thumb at his chest, "cause _I'm_ the only one that knows how."

Alpha Trion chuckled on Nathanial's other side. "Theoretically at any rate." He mumbled under his breath as he scanned the supply list once more.

Nathanial ignored the older mech's muttering and threw an skeptical look up at the silver mech. "And where, pray tell, did you learn how to fly an ancient, orange cargo ship?"

Sideswipe shrugged one shoulder, looking far too proud of himself to set Nat at ease. "How else? I read the manual."

"_Sideswipe_!" Ratchet suddenly barked from the entrance of the hanger bay. "Quit lounging around and come help me! We've got to get the critical patients loaded and settled before we even _think_ of doing anything else. Now get over here and pick a gurney!"

Sideswipe was in so good a mood that he didn't even argue with the old medic as he swaggered over.

Nathanial watched him go, all brash and confident in his untested ability to fly the enormous ship.

"That decides it." He finally muttered. "I'm staying with you. Peg and I'll just take over Aria's house and wait until the Core wakes up again. That solves all my problems. Peg won't have to worry about vacuums and I won't have to deal with his no doubt deranged driving." He gestured at Sideswipe's back as the young mech reappeared, helping a heavily limping Inferno towards the ship's open hatchway.

"Oh yes," Alpha Trion agreed sagely, "apart from the fact you'll both be dead within the stellar cycle it's the perfect plan." He raised an optic ridge at the smaller being. "Why didn't you think of it before?"

Nathanial shook his head and privately wondered at the amount of sarcasm that came with age. When he looked up, his eyes locked onto Ratchet as he wheeled a gurney slowly across the room, Hoist walking next to him rolling the IV tree and its multi-colored fluids that were hooked into the bright yellow patient.

Bumblebee was out cold on the wheeled bed, unaware of anything around him. Nathanial watched, face grim, as Ratchet and Hoist carefully rolled the young mech onboard the burnt orange ship. They were taking a big risk, he knew. If the ship went down, it would effectively be the end not only of the Autobots, but a number of defenseless patients and a handful of neutral passengers as well.

"Have you told Optimus that you're staying here yet?" Nathanial asked quietly after Bumblebee and his escort had disappeared into the ship.

"No," Alpha Trion said as if it was no big deal, "there's so much to do before you all leave that I haven't had the time."

When Alpha Trion didn't say anything else, Nathanial went back to frowning thoughtfully at the old ship.

"I thought you said you didn't want to play God?" He eventually said so quietly that only the Archivist could hear him. Alpha Trion looked down and Nathanial nodded at the ship that the old mech had so conveniently found for Prime and the other Autobots. "Doesn't this play into one of those 'pre-recorded outcomes' from those different universes or something like that?"

The old mech's optics flicked to the _Ark_ and then down at the human next to him. He smiled grimly. "Possibly." He answered cryptically. "And to answer your first question, no, I don't want to, but in this case the order didn't come from me. I'm just a messenger now, human Nathanial." He told him almost cheekily.

Nat shot Alpha Trion a confused look, but before he could ask who out there could be telling one of the Thirteen what to do, he caught sight of the large, hard bound book wedged under the old mech's arm. It was the same book that had been lying open on the Archivist's desk when Alpha Trion had requested him to come clean about the lens, Nathanial realized. The one he was always scratching away in with that old fashioned quill of his. The same one that Aria said Alpha Trion had had for ages…

Questions began to form up in Nathanial's head, preposterous questions that, at any other time, he would have written off as insane. Perhaps they were still insane, only now Nathanial was just cracked enough to ask them.

Before he could convince himself to give any of the questions a voice, Alpha Trion jerked his chin at something moving behind the line of patients now being helped onto the _Ark_.

"It appears you're needed elsewhere human."

Nathanial looked where the old mech had indicated. Beyond the line of slowly moving Autobots, half hidden by the ship's massive shadow, he could just make out Aria walking quickly along the wall. Even at this distance, he could see the stiff set of her shoulders and the hurried way she walked without looking at anything around her. He didn't need to see her eyes to know that they were red around the rims from trying not to cry.

Alpha Trion finally looked away from his check list and down at Nathanial. "Well go on then." He told him. "It's not like you're of much help around here anyways."

Nathanial didn't bother denying that fact before gathering up enough of his courage to head after Aria as she left the hanger entirely and headed for the elevator next door.

...

_"I've lost more than my phone," _Aria thought for the thousandth time as she stepped off the elevator at the top floor and headed towards her quiet place, _"so much more than my phone."_

It was a ridiculous thing to think, but even knowing that, the thought wouldn't leave her head.

Inwardly, Aria groped for the line in her spark-heart that belonged to Wheeljack, but her incorporeal fingers found nothing where Wheeljack should have been. It was like she had put her phone on silent and then lost it. Except more.

Hence the stupid thought.

Without thought, Aria touched the low set door controls. The large door swept aside with an almost silent _shff_ and she stepped into the semi-circular room. Ahead of her, the floor length window greeted her, with the city beyond just barely visible in the dark. For longer then she could remember this room had been her sanctuary. Somewhere she could disappear to when things got too hectic or overwhelming. She had always felt safe up here.

But not now.

_"Why can't I find him?" _She asked herself. _"Why isn't he where he's supposed to be?"_

Aria reached for Wheeljack again, pushing through the empty space when she didn't find him right away. She squeezed her eyes shut and stretched out farther, calling out to him in the darkness, but he just wouldn't answer. She reached even farther, groping along in the dark that surrounded her now. In the back of her mind, she knew she was entering that dangerous zone where she had gotten lost before when she'd gone into spark-shock. She couldn't go much further or she'd run the risk of losing herself again and she was already starting to feel so cold...

With a breathless gasp, she snapped back into her body. Cold sweat ran down her face as she stood there panting a long cycle. All that effort and _still_ Wheeljack was just a dark hole in her chest. Nothing had changed except now she felt like she had the flu.

Perceptor had tried to explain to her that Wheeljack must have constricted their bond to try and keep her from feeling...whatever it was he was going through. He'd done so very scientifically, using small words to try and help Aria comprehend what was happening to the both of them. But the only thing she'd understood was that Wheeljack was suffering and he'd shut her out so she wouldn't have to suffer with him.

And now they couldn't even save him...

With a half strangled sound, Aria shakily leaned her forehead against the bar in front of the window. The drop beyond the window was dizzying and she squeezed her eyes shut to try and block it out, but the feeling of empty space stretching out in front of her was too much to erase completely.

"Wheeljack..." she choked out, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

There was nothing else she could think to say and the words dissolved in her throat. Her chest was on fire from keeping the sobs in, but she felt cold all over. She gripped the railing in front of her hard enough that her fingernails started to turn blue, but she still couldn't keep her fingers from shaking.

Heavy metallic fabric suddenly dropped down on her shoulders and she jerked her head up, the sudden movement making her head spin. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but Nathanial standing behind her with a sad expression in his eyes hadn't been it.

She unlatched her trembling hands from around the metal railing and buried her fingers in the blanket he'd thrown around her. The material was cool at first, but quickly warmed up.

Even then she still couldn't stop shaking. Mercifully, Nathanial didn't say anything as Aria clutched at the blanket around her as if it could keep all of the broken pieces inside her together.

"Wheeljack-" The word stumbled out of her mouth.

Nathanial looked down at the floor briefly as he nodded. "I know."

Thinking he couldn't possibly know so quickly Aria staggered on. "We can't-he won't-" she sobbed hoarsely, "we're going to _leave_ him." She finally wrenched the words free.

Nathanial met her wide eyes. Her face was pale and her mouth wouldn't stop quivering as even now she tried to keep the storm of tears back. Her heart was breaking, he knew, because despite all their good reasoning, all the lives they would save by leaving him behind, Aria knew they were still abandoning Wheeljack to the Decepticons.

Somewhere in the back of his chest, Nat felt his own heart ache at the thought. The engineer had been his friend too. Leaving him behind left a hollow feeling in his gut.

"I know." Nat said again, voice somewhat rougher than before. There was nothing else he could say.

Aria finally cracked. The storm finally broke through and she buried her face in her hands as her shoulders shook with the force of her crying. Hesitantly, Nathanial put a hand on her shoulder, over the blanket still draped around her.

She surprised him. Instead of just placidly accepting the comfort or shrugging him off, she turned into his hold and buried her face in his shoulder, arms tentatively wrapping around him a moment later as her fingers grasped at his shirt as if she was afraid he'd just melt away into thin air.

Too emotionally exhausted to feel awkward or uncertain, Nathanial held her close in turn, pulling the blanket back up over her shoulder when it was dragged down by gravity.

They didn't speak. They didn't even try. They just stood there for a long, long time, wrapped up in their grief and each other's arms as they mourned the loss of a friend they knew, in all likelihood, they would never see again.


	37. Chapter 37: Goodbye May Seem Forever

Yay! Posting day! How I love thee posting day! And I have news! Exciting news! Er, exciting, unhappy news, but still! Exciting! n_n;

The news is that, sadly, this will be the last post for some (as of now indeterminate) amount of time. The reason for this being that we are fast approaching the end of the story (DX Noes! ;_;) and I don't want to be scrabbling to post and risk messing something up in my hurry. Therefore I am taking a posting break, which means I **will still be writing**, but none of you will see it til the remaining chapters are complete. If my guestimate it correct, there aren't many left - maybe a handful - so hopefully it won't be too long on your end. However if it turns out to be like two handfuls or more (doubtful) then you will get chapters before it's finished.

The good part of this is that once I finish writing out the adventure, you get a solid posting schedule! Yay! Once a week at the very _least_. But because of the nature of the beast (and the fact that you guys deserve along the lines of a bajillion monopoly dollars each for sticking with me this long) I'll probably do more than once a week. Maybe twice. Depends on things.

So there you are. Exciting (unhappy) news. Make of that what you will. n_n;

Thanks go to everyone who reviewed/showed their readerly concern for poor Wheeljack (whom I am not finished with yet o.o). Apparently I should have expanded that 'do not panic' warning to more people than Flarefox...

My thanks to Autobot AfterShock, Cyrstal Prime, Flarfox, Autobot-Bre, KayleeChiara, Bee4ever, Fallen Angel 1234, L.M.L, and Autobot Phoenix. I love you guys! I mean, I love everyone else who reads this, but you guys aren't faceless/nameless readers hiding in the recesses of the internet. Well, I guess technically you _are_ faceless cause I've never seen you, but still. You get the point. ::author hearts!::

Also, the title is directly inspired by the Fox and the Hound song of the same name. It somehow fit. And it and El Dorado's 'Friends Never Say Goodbye' made it onto my youtube recently watched list several times while I was writing this. :3

And with that I leave you to read the interpersonal relationship madness that is Ch. 37. What can I say? I love me some character interaction. :) Warning for sadness, seperation anxiety, and Ironhide and Chromia being...themselves. But as always, nothing explicit. Please enjoy and review (in that order). Until next time!

...

The Long Road Home

37 – Goodbye May Seem Forever – 37

Ratchet's thoughts were a storm in his processor as he made his way back to his medical bay. Other bots in the hall jumped out of his way when they saw him coming, but he was too preoccupied to see them.

_"Need to get the last of the tools still in the medbay. Grapple has got his patients onboard the _Eight Track_ and Hoist's in charge of those on the _Lost Light_."_ He named the two other Autobot ships that were large enough to have decently stocked medicals pays and the equipment to deal with their injured passengers. _"The _Ark's _medical wing is stocked and ready as it can be, patients strapped in – Primus, this take off will be hard on Bumblebee – every scrap of energon in the medbay has been moved aboard, but will it be enough?"_

The question had been nagging at Ratchet for hours now, but he had no way to gauge how long they would have to go before they found another source of energy. _If _they ever found one at all.

The CMO shook himself. _"No sense worrying over that now. Prime says we're going, so we're going. Cybertron's not going to be stable much longer. No telling if the Core has already started its sleep cycle or not, or how long it'll be before the dark energon infection is gone." _Ratchet frowned._ "I should have gone down there myself to gauge how bad the damage was. Maybe then I could have done something to help the Core and we wouldn't have to give up our home."_

The old medic stopped just outside the doors of his medbay as a wave of guilt and self reproach swept over him. He _should_ have gone down there, he thought, one hand tightening into a fist. Maybe there was something Prime and the others had missed – they weren't medibots – something he could have fixed that could have spared them from this exile.

Wearily, Ratchet reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to avert the processor ache he felt coming on. He was old. The twins were particularly fond of pointing this out, and usually he knocked them once upside the head and called them upstarts for their trouble. But this was different. For the first time in a long time, Ratchet _felt_ old. Out of all the bots still online, Ratchet was one of those that had been around the longest. He was old enough to remember the Quintessons, although just barely (he'd only been a youngling when they'd invaded, barely able to walk). Old enough to have grown up in a world without caste. It wasn't until he was a young adult that the system had been implemented. Even at that young age, he'd already shown an impressive aptitude for medicine, so they'd made him a medibot without debate.

It hadn't been his first choice – actually now that he thought about it, he'd been quite set against it – but even back then the guild heads had been powerful, and arguing had proven useless. So Ratchet did the only thing he could and threw himself into his new work. Almost overnight he'd become one of the most recognized mechasurgeons in the city. He'd even been put in charge of an entire medical complex at one point.

Of course then he'd had to deal with hospital politics and the paperwork that came with such an important desk job. And the _egos_! He vented a harsh snort just thinking about some of the other medics he'd met. By then, caste had become everything and most of the other doctors Ratchet had worked with were more than proud to have been placed in such a high level of the system.

Between the never ending paperwork and the rampant narcissism, it wasn't long before Ratchet just couldn't deal with them any longer and after a long, drawn out argument with the med caste guild head, he'd stepped down. _Way_ down. The head of the guild was actually so irritated with Ratchet's resignation that he'd stuffed him into the lowest surgical position he could find in Iacon's county hospital as punishment.

It was the best thing that ever happened to him. Looking back, the medic realized he'd never been happier then when he'd been at that hospital. He'd been helping bots again instead of sitting behind a desk and signing equipment requests. He'd met Wheeljack there when the young bot was assigned to him for his internship (and Ratch' was pretty sure that had been intended as a punishment too considering the fact that the younger mech couldn't remember what he'd learned at the medical school to save his life). He'd even adopted a sparkling, a little femme whose mother had died in the ER. He'd brought her into the world and he'd known as soon as she'd looked at him with her big blue optics that he'd been sunk.

In the present, Ratchet chuckled at the memory of his daughter. She'd been quite the little spitfire, headstrong and stubborn to the end. If she hadn't been so sick, he reflected, she'd have been around Moonracer's age now, maybe a little older...

Ratchet leaned his head against the wall next to the medbay doors, suddenly feeling even older. Something ached in his spark at the thought of leaving the planet where she was buried. That same ache told him to dig his heels in and refuse to give up his home and the last ties he had to his family. His daughter was here. His friend was still here. And Ratchet was old enough that he feared he would never live long enough to come back to them.

The Autobot medic expelled a sigh. There was no use whining about it now, he thought as he shuttered his optics, and he knew his spitfire would have his head if he offlined when he had been given the chance to get out.

But a part of his spark refused to leave her. _This_ was home and _this _is where it would stay. And the medic knew that once he left Cybertron, he wouldn't be whole until he returned.

The doors slid silently open to reveal stark, white walls and empty rooms. Here and there the occasional wire or tubing left behind lay on the floor, adding to the emptiness of the previously packed medbay.

The sight of the empty wing, gutted of everything that made it important, was a slap to Ratchet's sensors. The patients had already been cleared out and split up between the three ships able to handle them, along with the medical equipment, supplies, and medical grade energon. In all his time as a medic, Ratchet had never seen a medical bay so empty before. Even all the furniture was gone.

Trying not to let the hollowed out rooms unsettle him, Ratchet briskly made his way to the back room that had been his office. He kept his head down for the most part, running through the list in his head of everything he still needed to do before the_ Ark's_ medical bay was ready for departure. Determined as he was to ignore everything around him, he almost didn't look up when he caught sight of a splash of green out of the corner of his optics.

But he did look up, and then took a few steps back so he could see through the window that separated him from the sudden plane of color.

It was Moonracer, he saw, sitting in one of the few solitary rooms. She was curled up on the bed someone had forgotten to grab, knees drawn up to her chest, arms crossed around her knees, with her face buried in her arms. She wasn't crying as far as Ratchet could tell, but that didn't make him feel any better.

He was still for a moment, deciding if he should go in or not. With the medbay cleared out, this was probably the quietest place in the city. She had probably come here so she wouldn't be disturbed by some bot asking questions. But if she hadn't...

There was a quiet click as Ratchet slowly twisted the knob and let himself in. Moonracer didn't look up from her arms, but he knew she was aware of his presence.

He didn't say anything as he stepped softly into the small room. The only sound he made was an old man's sigh as he carefully sat on the hospital bed next to her. It had been too long since he'd just sat for a few cycles.

Ratchet looked over at the young femme, but when she didn't look up, he turned his optics towards the window in front of him. Despite what other bots thought, he knew about

Moonracer and Wheeljack's infatuation with each other. He'd have to be an idiot _not_ to have noticed it really. Other bots thought that because he'd taken a shine to the young femme, that meant he'd end up going ballistic on any mech that made a move on her (and he supposed that if, say, one of the twins had shown any interest he probably would have) but in reality Ratchet was very aware of the fact that he had no say in who Moonracer decided to spend time with. He was not her guardian, she was not his charge. The simple truth was that she just reminded him of a femmeling he had taken care of a long time ago. Not all the time, but enough that it mattered.

Maybe, Ratchet thought briefly as he stared at the window, if it had been any mech other than Wheeljack he would have felt differently. But he'd known the engineer a long time – since he was barely more than an awkward young adult – and Ratchet had recognized the signs in him before he'd even noticed the way Moonracer had looked at his friend when she thought no one was looking. He'd seen the stupid look that had appeared on Wheeljack's face every time the sea-green femme had passed by, and the annoying habit he'd developed of lingering around the med bay whenever she had come to talk with Ratchet. And then if _that_ hadn't made it obvious, Ratchet was pretty sure he would have figured it out when Wheeljack's head fins had started blushing pink in her presence.

He'd been a little concerned at first; he felt safe enough admitting that now. Because in the end, he was fond of Moonracer. He just didn't want to see her spark-broken.

_"Well," _he though sadly, _"here we are anyway..."_

Ratchet checked his chronometer. He needed to get back to preparing for their departure. He had checked and double checked the equipment on the old, orange ship, but Grapple said he still needed a reciprocating saw for the _Eight Track_. Ratchet only had the one, now safely stashed aboard the _Ark_, but he knew Wheeljack had kept one somewhere in that turbo-rat's nest he called a lab.

Feeling the pressure of time slipping away while he sat here, Ratchet glanced over at Moonracer. She hadn't moved since he'd found her. He opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it again. Words wouldn't help.

So instead he reached over and put a hand on her head, like he'd done a thousand times before for his spitfire. He'd never been good with words, but it had helped her when she was upset.

It seemed to have the opposite effect on Moonracer. He watched out of the corner of his optics as she shuddered. Then before Ratchet knew what was happening, she started to cry, her frame shaking as she sobbed into her crossed arms.

Not knowing what else he could do for her, Ratchet remained where he was, shoulders slumped as he stared at the floor as Moonracer cried. After awhile, she reached up her own pale white hand – half revealing her coolant stained face – and grabbed Ratchet's dark gray one where it still rested on her helm, needing the contact.

Ratchet gripped her hand back. It wasn't enough – it wasn't _near_ enough – but it would have to do. Until they found Wheeljack again, or found out what had happened to him, it would just have to do.

...

The so called war room – the only reading room in the Hall of Records large enough to hold them all – was just as chaotic and harried as everywhere else in the city. Preparations for their impending flight through the space bridge were in full swing now and the room was noisy as the officers sent orders over comm. units while trying to report information to each other. Blaster standing at the far corner of the long table relaying message after message did nothing to decrease the noise.

"Hound reports that Spectra's group has made it safely away from Crystal City via the tunnels and should be here by 2200-"

"Sprocket's team has found a pocket of fuel cells that should fill up the _Eight Track _and the _Galaxia_. Still waiting on reports from the other supply teams-"

"Mirage reports that the Decepticons are restless, but haven't moved from Kaon-"

"If the stay there I will write the twins a 'get out of brig free' pass." Prowl muttered in the brief span between messages. "Each.

Optimus assimilated the rapid fire information as quick as he could. "The _Eight Track _and the _Galaxia _bring the ship total up to twenty-three-"

"Twenty-four," Blaster called out, "Ridge's team found enough fuel to get the _Reliant_ off the ground."

"Twenty-four," Optimus amended before turning to the black and white next to him, "Megatron won't be able to resist so many. Prowl, you go with the _Eight Track_ through the bridge with the neutrals. If Megatron already suspects," and none of them were exactly sure that he didn't, "then Starscream and his Seekers will try to pick off as many as they can before they get through the bridge."

Prowl's suddenly stiff doorwings told just how much he looked forward to watching the neutrals' backs. "But the _Ark_-" he started.

"Is taking off last." Prime told him firmly, leaving no room for argument, "We'll try and give you enough time to get them through and, Primus willing, will meet you on the other side."

For a moment Prowl looked like he wanted to argue – his battle computer was sure to be of use in the last stand against the Decepticons on the ground – but he kept his thoughts to himself and instead resigned himself to the post.

"Yes Prime," he said then added, "request permission to have Perceptor transferred from the _Lost Light _to the _Eight Track_ as well to monitor the bridge's stability."

Optimus nodded, briefly looking up at the mech in question busy on the other side of the table. "Granted."

"We still haven't dealt with the dark energon lens," Chromia spoke up, her higher voice cutting through the organized chaos of the room, "if we just leave it in Megatron's hands then Cybertron will never get a chance to heal."

Optimus nodded again. "I know, and that's the other reason why the _Ark_ is staying behind the other ships. A team will be sent to capture the lens and destroy it if possible. As soon as they have it, the fleet – minus the _Ark_ which will wait for the remaining Autobots sent after the lens – will take off. The loss of the lens should distract Megatron enough to give them time to get off the planet."

Ironhide, arms cross over his chest, snorted. "Either that or enrage him." He muttered. "Either way I suppose he won't be thinking clearly." He conceded.

But Ultra Magnus looked unconvinced. "That still won't be enough to keep Megatron on the ground. And there won't be anything to turn his attention from the _Ark_ once the lens is gone." Ultra Magnus reasoned gravely. "Once he sees the smaller ships take off for the bridge, he's going to know what we're planning. You're going to need more of a distraction if you want to get the _Ark_ off Cybertron."

Optimus raised an optic ridge at him, knowing the other mech already had a proposal. "Like what?" He asked carefully. Somewhere in the back of his processor, an unwelcome suspicion started to settle in.

Magnus steeled himself. "Like us." He announced sternly. "The Wreckers and I will stay behind. At least long enough to let the _Ark _get through the bridge." He added, already seeing the 'but you'll all be extinguished!' jumping up on several mouth plates. "We have our own ship and supplies. The destruction of the lens will lead to instability in the ranks with so many of the Decepticons hooked on dark energon. In the aftermath, we'll make our own escape and rendezvous with you elsewhere."

"With_out_ the space bridge." Percy finally waded into the noise, his prim tones easier to discern among the babble of other voices. "I've been going over the calculations and the AllSpark energy that is currently powering the space bridge is declining. And I believe that transporting our little fleet will drain it of its remaining energy."

"So it'll go dark as soon as we're through." Ironhide muttered.

Percy looked up at him, blinking once. "Possibly before that. I suspect that it will become highly unstable the more ships go through." He looked over at Optimus across the table. "I would suggest getting them through as fast and close together as possible, to leave enough energy to transport the _Ark_."

Optimus Prime nodded, processor still trying to adapt to the idea that despite their best efforts, bots were still going to be left behind on a highly unstable, highly un-survivable planet. True, at their own insistence, but still...

All he said was, "Understood, Perceptor."

"But you still can't possibly take on the entire Decepticon army by yourselves Ultra Magnus." Prowl protested, face stoic. "Even the Wreckers aren't indestructible."

"He won't have to." Elita-One spoke up, soft voice heard by everyone present as the general conversation around them fell into a lull. "We'll stay as well and assist the Wreckers. Between our two groups we'll make sure all the loose ends are taken care of."

Even Chromia looked a bit shocked at that.

When none of the others said anything (they still hadn't made peace with the idea of the Wreckers staying behind yet, much less the few remaining femmes), Elita added, "My femmes and I have had more practice than any other bots at keeping out of the Decepticons' hands. This is no different than when we left with Arcee."

"Except the whole planet's going to be against us." Chromia protested, her face drawn in a rare show of outright worry. "No energon, no backup. Elita we don't even have a ship like the Wreckers-"

"We'll make do." Elita-One said firmly. She was right about this and she knew it. She would not let them dissuade her. "We can always dip into the Decepticons' supplies if need be." She added with a small, fierce grin. "It won't be the first time."

Chromia still didn't look convinced. In fact she looked like she was questioning her sister's sanity. None of them had any doubts about the silver and blue femme's strength (of both mind and body) but from the looks of things, she was fast approaching her breaking point.

The femme second suddenly rounded on the mech across the table. "You're not honestly thinking of letting her go through with this insanity, are you?" She demanded.

Optimus hadn't taken his optics off his sparkmate since she'd suggested the idea. In all honesty, he shared Chromia's point of view; this was madness. Not just Elita and the femmes staying behind to guard their backs, but Magnus and the Wreckers as well. The whole point of this was to clear Cybertron of bots before the planet cracked open to purge itself of dark energon. Leaving bots behind on purpose felt more like a step backwards than not.

But slag it all, they were _right_. Once he realized that the ships with the neutrals and the bulk of the Autobots' forces were going through the space bridge, Megatron would be all over the _Ark_. They wouldn't even get out of Cybertron's atmosphere before they were brought down by Seekers and dark 'cons. Magnus and Elita staying behind would change that.

Optimus tried to remind himself that they weren't planning on staying long enough to ride out Cybertron's hibernation, but it did little help. He'd sacrificed a lot over the vorns as Prime. The idea of leaving behind his brother and his sparkmate was...difficult.

When it became clear that Optimus was not going to say anything on the matter (Yet anyway. Elita was sure they were going to have a discussion about this sometime in the near future), Chromia swore fiercely under her breath.

"Slagging _Pit-" _was all they caught before she stormed out of the room, needing to be anywhere but here.

Ironhide made a low sound in the back of his throat as the door closed behind her, the sound of it unheard under Blaster's continued message relays. The black armored mech offered no explanation as he left the long table and followed after the femme, but then the others left behind didn't really need one.

After Ironhide's frame had disappeared behind the door, Elita looked away from her sparkmate and over at Prowl.

"I think you'll want to make room for one more on the _Ark_." She told him quietly, her voice carefully dispassionate at the idea that for the first time since this war had started, her sister would not be with her.

Prowl hesitated a nano-klik, but then nodded sharply. As he made a note on his data pad, Prime turned back to the bots still in the war room.

"As for the dark energon lens..." he continued.

...

Chromia was sure she'd never felt this slagged off before. Not when Megatron had slaughtered the other femmes, not when he'd taken out the youngling sectors. Not even when he'd targeted her youngest sister for no obvious reason other than the fact that she was the last femme-spark the Well of AllSparks had produced. And that frightened her a bit, because before now she'd never been as angry as when that nut job had come after her sister.

She stormed down a web of little used hallways, not wanting anyone to see her like this. She was too angry to remember if she passed anyone in the back ways, but when she finally arrived at her and Ironhide's shared room, she didn't think she'd passed another living spark.

The door closed automatically behind her, robbing her of the chance to slam it closed (although how she would have managed that with an automated door she wasn't quite sure) so she slammed her hands down on the room's table instead.

The force of the bang and the rattle of the objects on the table helped lessen her desire to break something and she was able to make herself stand there a cycle even though her shoulders were shaking with some force of emotion; either fear or rage she didn't know.

He wasn't long in coming, just like she'd expected. Not five cycles passed before the door behind her swished open again and Ironhide stepped in, turning and sealing the door once it had closed, ensuring them some privacy for the immediate future.

"Been a long time since we had a private conversation." Chromia observed, and then stopped talking as she noticed the slight waver in her voice.

Ironhide's only answer was a somewhat pained grunt as he sat on the edge of the berth. His knee was still recovering from the blow he'd taken at Tyger Pax. Ratchet had warned him to go easy on it unless he wanted to walk with a limp the rest of his existence.

"C'mere," he finally said and she heard the dull thunk as he patted the spot next to him. "I got somethin' I want to talk with you about."

"There's nothing to talk about." Chromia answered firmly, not looking up from the table. "I will not be left behind again."

There was a sigh – a mildly resigned one she had heard a thousand times before, as if he had expected this but had walked right into it anyway – but she wasn't surprised or put off by it. Her stubbornness was almost as legendary as his. "Mia-" He tried.

"No!" She answered somewhat sharper than she had meant. "I've already given you up once 'Hide. I can't do it again!"

They were quiet a cycle. They hadn't spoken about their time apart since Chromia had arrived back in Iacon, but the relief at seeing her again and knowing she wouldn't have to rush off to guard her youngest sister anymore had nearly knocked him flat. Neither of them had appreciated the decision to split up the younglings, especially the secrecy they would need to maintain to keep a very young Arcee safe from the Decepticons, but they'd done it. 'Grit their teeth,' as Aria would say, or maybe it was 'bit the bullet'.

Didn't matter, Ironhide decided with a slow shake of his head, the point was that they'd done what was best for Arcee and the other kids...and lost about a hundred and twenty-five vorns together because of it. Having to do it again – for an even greater, less certain amount of time – was almost too much to comprehend.

But...

"She's going to need you 'Mia." Ironhide told her softly.

Chromia straightened up in front of him, the usual steel entering her spinal strut. "Elita-One's a big girl Ironhide. She doesn't need a former guardsfemme watching over her shoulder like she did when she was still Ariel. She can handle this without me."

Ironhide had no doubt that the femme commander _could_ handle Cybertron by herself, and if he hadn't been down to the Core he probably would have agreed with his sparkmate. But he had gone down, and he knew it wasn't the next few orns that Elita-One would need help with; it was everything that came after.

"It's not that simple." He started to say, then stopped, venting harshly, and ran a hand along the back of his helm as he realized how many times that sentence had been repeated by who-knew-how-many other bots.

"Look," he finally said, determined to somehow get this out no matter how crazy it sounded, "while I was down in the Core, the thing...spoke to me. Told me stuff." He told her brusquely. He looked square at the wall as he did, feeling the femme's incredulity through their bond.

But there was a fair amount of curiosity there as well. "Told you what?" She asked, finally turning around to face him when he didn't go on.

Ironhide's optics flicked over to her where she now leaned against the table, arms crossed loosely over her chassis, and his shoulders relaxed slightly in relief. He had half expected her to scoff at the idea. Neither of them put much stock in supernatural things like this exactly. If it hadn't been him down there in the first place, he never would have believed his own story. Heck, he _still_ hardly believed it even now.

"He said we'd see each other," he told her, figuring it was as good a place as any to try and start, "occasionally, but that things would go better all around if I stayed with Prime and you helped Elita."

Now Chromia did snort, her tension ratcheting skywards. "Better for everyone but us." She muttered darkly.

Ironhide didn't argue with her, just plowed on. "He said that Elita would still need your help. That without you, more bots would die." He looked away, some irritation appearing on his face. "I assumed he meant more femmes, but I could be wrong. Don't know how the Core knows any of this, but I'm guessin' if he was really tellin' me the future, then he'd know just what kind of bots you'd end up travlin' with."

A glint of grim amusement entered their link, and he looked up to see an old, familiar half-grin on her faceplates. "Jealous 'Hide?" She asked deviously.

Ironhide gave a low chuckle. "Definitely." He said, and then held out a hand to the femme across from him with a well worn grin of his own.

She took it, her boiling temper reduced to a simmer for the moment, and without a word went and curled up against her mech on the berth, her digits automatically finding those small, inescapable seams in his armor that only she knew about and holding tight.

Ironhide held on just as tight. On any other orbit, the close contact might have surprised them both. Usually touch went with interfacing – and there was a _lot_ of that between them – but other than that they didn't share a whole lot of physical contact. And that never struck them as odd because most other Cybertronians were like that too. As a race, simple touch didn't play a large role in their social interaction. The seven younglings were a little easier about it (always roughhousing and leaning on each other and shaking hands) but that was more because of their close relationships with Aria (whose race thrived on touch it seemed) than anything else.

And while they both certainly enjoyed the physical part of their relationship, knowing what was coming took some of the fun out of being together.

"He said it'd be a long time," Ironhide eventually went on in a low voice, "a _real _long time," he added, "but eventually that things would settle. Until then," he shrugged one shoulder and Chromia saw that for a brief moment he felt almost as frustrated and out of control of the situation as she did, "it's just gotta be done."

Chromia felt her mouth turn hard as some of her resentment returned. "And that's how it always works." She muttered bitterly. "Something's just got to be done, and we end up making the sacrifice so that it can."

He didn't argue because he didn't disagree. They did make a lot of personal sacrifices, more than Ironhide could readily count. But they'd both gone into this knowing that they'd have to. This one was just harder than most of the others.

A few cycles went by before Ironhide felt Chromia's frustration leak back into their bond and the silver hand on his chest curled up into an angry fist.

"I don't understand," she muttered, her voice coming from directly beneath his chin, "how can you be so slagging _calm_ about all this?"

Pressed right up against him, Chromia didn't miss him tense. _"Well this ought to be good..." _she thought with no small amount of apprehension.

"Cause," Ironhide told her a moment later, trying not to feel foolish, "Core showed me somethin' while I was down there too."

Chromia didn't open her optics where she rested her head quite comfortably on Ironhide's chest. "Yeah?" She grumbled, "what was that? What could possibly make this any easier?"

"Well," he hesitated just the slightest bit, "It was, it was sort of a...vision."

There was a long pause, then in a skeptical voice, "...a vision?"

Not seeing a way this could be more awkward, he added, "Of the future."

There was another pause – their bond was quiet – and then with a sigh, Chromia leaned away from Ironhide so she could see his face and propped herself up on an elbow. "Alright, let me hear it." She sighed.

She was a hideous skeptic, Ironhide knew, and the only reason she was going to listen was because she knew he was too. So if he put stock in this crazy vision-theory, then she had at least better listen before deciding it was scrap.

...either that or she was humoring him and privately thought that her mech had finally gone and lost it.

He told her anyway. "It was right near the end," he explained, "Core had stopped talking and I thought he was done with me. But then I started seein' somethin' strange. At first it was all blurry colors and those sounds like you sometimes hear comin' through static. But it cleared up the longer I watched."

He verbally stumbled a moment, having trouble finding the words that would make this sound more believable.

"It was us," he finally said, sounding partially awed, "you n' me surrounded by all these bots I've never seen before – although most of 'em were too young to be around nowadays." He added. "We were all old and tarnished an' I remember I had this scar runnin' over my optic." He lifted his hand away from her back to gesture at his right optic briefly.

Chromia frowned at that and leaned close again, putting a hand on either side of his face and tilting his head down so she could get a better look at his optic. But it was fine. Looked just like any other.

She let go with a low hum in the back of her vocorder.

Ironhide chuckled. "You looked good though." He told her with a look she knew very well.

Chromia felt the familiar heat rise across their bond, and this time her smile was a little fuller. "Dang straight." She murmured, liking the idea that she could still get his attention even when they turned old and tarnished.

Ironhide had to clear his vents before he could go on, but Chromia noticed he left his hand near her hip where it had appeared sometime in the last few cycles. "Most of 'em were grown," he told her, trying to remember the different bots that had surrounded them, "but there were one or two adolescents in there somewhere and there was a hoard of little ones runnin' all around at our feet, laughin' and playin' games."

He fell silent, staring at something she couldn't see. She was just starting to get lost in the feeling of him rubbing lazy circles against her hip when he told her in a subdued voice, "Mia, I think they were ours."

Chromia laughed. She couldn't help it.

"So that's the trade off then?" She asked incredulously. "Our reward for being good little Autobots and going our separate ways for Primus-knows-how-long? Kids?"

Ironhide blinked at her, surprised by her reaction. "Well you don't have to sound so _opposed_ to the idea." He protested.

"I'm not," Chromia insisted with a languid shrug that belied just how much she _did_ want the future he said he'd seen, "I'm just picturing a youngling with my determination and your stubbornness."

In all truthfulness, Chromia liked the idea of her and Ironhide having a sparkling or, or two. In time anyway. She didn't want it near as bad as she knew Elita did, but she did still want it. More than she would admit to anyone but Ironhide.

The mech across from her rose his optics ridges at her. "Well you always _did _enjoy a challenge." He pointed out.

Chromia snorted a laugh and elbowed him in the side, making him rock slightly.

Ironhide just levied himself up on his elbow, matching her. "But think about what it means 'Mia." He insisted. "We both know that havin' kids now is, well it's pretty stupid. You don't raise younguns in the middle of a warzone. That's just begging for trouble." He grumbled.

Chromia's urge to laugh abruptly faded away and she nodded. She tried not to think about having a family too much because it was an impossible want, at least now anyway. Like Ironhide had said, bringing a spark into this war torn _mess_ would bring more trouble than anything. And spark-ache.

"So you think he was showing you a time after the war's over." Chromia surmised.

"Maybe," Ironhide said, "it _was_ on a different planet – lots of green things all about I think – so maybe it's wherever we find the AllSpark."

"Maybe..." Chromia murmured, "but how do you know the Core showed you our future?"

"Well who else could it've been-"

"No," Chromia cut him off, "how do you _know_ it was _real_?"

Ironhide didn't really have an answer offhand. He hadn't questioned what the Core had shown him because it was the Core. Why would the heart of Cybertron lie?

Because it was sick...?

Ironhide vented a sigh. "I don't." He finally admitted. "Not for a hundred percent certain. Maybe it's only somethin' that _might _happen, might not. But believin' that that's waitin' for us at the end of this ride makes bein' separated from you – _again _–" the word was caustic and bitter, but quickly faded into a deeper kind of sadness, "easier to bear."

Chromia didn't respond, just pressed herself close to her sparkmate. The feeling that her spark was being crushed by some invisible force was back and the only thing that made it manageable was the pulse of Ironhide's under his armor.

"...I don't think I can do this again." She whispered.

There wasn't much Ironhide could say as he felt her regret and sorrow swamp her. He could count on one hand how many times he'd ever seen his femme leak before, just like he could count on that same hand how many times he'd ever felt truly helpless in a situation. This was all of the above. And there wasn't anything either of them could but wait out the storm.

Eventually she pulled herself together. Wallowing in this kind of self-pity wasn't just stupid, it was counterproductive she told herself sternly. Not to mention it was ruining whatever time she had left with her mate.

"So how many were there?" She asked softly, breaking the silence some time later.

Ironhide looked up, doing mental calculations. "If ya don't count the youngun with the blinking headfins and the few that looked like your sister or had Prime's optics..." he trailed off in thought before answering with certainty, "twelve."

Chromia's optics snapped open, all thoughts of pity forgotten. "Twelve?!"

Ironhide rubbed at his audio where she'd shouted in it. "Give or a take..." he trailed off, not sure what to make of that look on Chromia's face. "But then, that's all the grown ones, and they all had bonded pairs. So that makes it six."

Chromia's optic ridges refused to descend. "Six?" She demanded. "Six mechlings and you sound...calm?" How the frack did _that _work?! What was she supposed to do with six mechs?

Ironhide pulled another face. "Well, five mechs and one femme." He corrected, a goofy kind of grin appearing on his faceplates. "She kept callin' you mom and handed you her youngest while she dealt with his brother and sister."

The blue and silver femme's pulse stuttered back to normal as she rested her head back on Ironhide's chest. "A femme huh?" She muttered thoughtfully. "That doesn't sound too bad..."

Ironhide grinned at her. "I thought you'd like that part." He mumbled, suddenly finding the femme next to him very distracting. All this physical contact and no actual foreplay. What was the world coming to?

Between the rising heat between them and a handful of electric kisses, they lost track of time, but it couldn't have been too long before Chromia abruptly broke away from her mate and leaned over the side of the berth to shout at the floor, "But if you decide to change that mech-femme ratio Core I won't complain!"

The Core didn't answer her, but Ironhide chuckled as she refocused on him.

They got lost in their bond then (and plenty other things besides) and it was some time before they found their way back out. It was late in the orbit now and since no one had them demanding to know why they were late for duty, they didn't bother unsealing the door and risk disturbing their rest cycle.

The ache was still there in her spark as Chromia started to doze off, and she knew Ironhide felt something similar. But it was pin-sized now, hardly worth paying attention too. So she buried it so deep in her core that it wouldn't get in the way of what she had to do, although she could still feel it all the same.

And for the next four million years, it would never truly fade away.


	38. Chapter 38: Farewell is like The End

It. Is. Time.

:D Thank you Bee4ever, Cloud-Dancer103, NightWing101, Autobot-Bre, L.M.L. and Delphine Pryde for your reviews! You and all the other viewers really kept me going these past few months. Did you guys know that even without posting new chapters there were still hits on Long Road Home every _day?_ Isn't that amazing! I love you guys!

And now enjoy! X3

...

The Long Road Home

38 – Farewell is Like The End – 38

Preparations for leaving Cybertron continued for the next orn and a half. And while the heart of Iacon and the impromptu shipyards were non-stop sound and activity, from the outside everything appeared quiet.

Outside the city, nothing had changed. Autobots and Decepticons still battled for control of the remaining energon, even when it was dark energon. With all of the corrupted energon's side effects, the Autobots couldn't afford to just let the Decepticons have it. They destroyed it whenever they could, but it was a difficult process, and the Autobots didn't have the time or attention to devote to cleaning up the mess.

_"Besides," _Elita-One thought as she watched the bots unfit for battle duty loading the _Ark_ a level below her, _"there isn't really a point in trying to wipe out dark energon at this point. The Core is about to spend the next few millennia or so doing nothing but getting rid of dark energon."_

Those were Perceptor's newest projections on how long the Core would have to hibernate before it was well again. A million stellar cycles. At the very _least. _And after seeing the extent of the damage in the underground energon reservoirs and the dark crystals now appearing in the remains of the Hydrax Plateau, Elita thought it would be longer than that.

_Much _longer.

She frowned over the balcony in thought. In front of her, and rising high above her, the burnt-orange hull of the _Ark_ rested. From what Alpha Trion had told her, this ship had been sitting at the bottom of the Well of AllSparks – stored there by persons unknown for reasons unknown – for time immeasurable.

Elita believed it. The outside of the enormous ship – apart from being an appalling shade of orange – was pitted and scored from collisions sustained during previous flights, and so blackened in some places that Prowl had greatly questioned the hull integrity. He'd kicked up quite a fuss about it actually. At least, as much as the stoic black and white ever fussed. Raising concerns about the hull rupturing during take off and endangering the lives of those on board. Quoting statistics and running through equations in his head that only Perceptor could have kept up with Elita felt, because she certainly hadn't been able to. She'd understood the bottom line though; if the hull broke they were all scrapped.

Jazz had just reminded Prowl that he wasn't even going to be _on_ the _Ark _and should quit trying to ruin his first ride in a space ship.

"Heck, if I'm gonna die, then I'm goin' fer a ride in space first!" The silver mech had told Prowl.

Fortunately, Alpha Trion had put Prowl's arguments to rest. Elita wasn't sure where he'd found the _Ark's _specs, but found them he had. More engineering jargon had followed that she didn't understand, but Alpha Trion had explained that the _Ark_ was made of stronger materials than present day metals and ores, which was why it hadn't melted down in the Well. And the old mech swore up and down that it was so well built that it would function the best out of every ship in their hodge-podge fleet.

And with her sparkmate and so many of her friends going onboard, Elita-One sure hoped he was right.

"It's kind of ugly, isn't it?"

The rose colored femme turned at the unexpected voice, and then gave a small smile to her visitor. "Very." She agreed. "Alpha Trion said that being left down in the Well charred the hull a bit and darkened the color, but after seeing the inside I think that might be an improvement."

Dovetail gave a delicate shudder at the joke as she joined the Autobot femme commander at the railing. They had become neighbors of sorts when the Autobot femmes had moved to their own base with a small Arcee and had since become friends. Elita didn't mind admitting she had a soft spot for the young neutral and she respected Dove for her strength. She'd done what bots even older than Ironhide hadn't been able to and had kept the other neutrals with her safe despite the war.

But Elita worried for Dove because of her age. Most bots had forgotten just how young Dovetail was – younger than Moonracer – but it was so obvious to Elita that it was painful. Dovetail hadn't even been an adult when the war had started, but she'd lived as one of the lower castes with her two brothers, and had to grow up quickly because of it.

The silver-white femme's humor faded as she watched the bots down below them carrying cargo to the _Ark _and offloading whatever junk they had found inside. They walked briskly, but there was only a handful of mechs doing the work. Most of them were either former data-clerks without frame-weapons or soldiers that had sustained heavy damage and could no longer fight. They were doing the heavy lifting so Prime wouldn't have to pull other soldiers off the battlefield and risk Megatron's suspicion.

Elita took the opportunity to look over the younger femme. Her pearl colored armor was slightly gray – a definite sign of malnourishment – and she was still too skinny, even after an orn of Iacon rations instead of the weakened energon she and her bunch had been living off of before their hidden energon spring had gone dark.

"I gave you those rations so you could eat them, you know." She told Dovetail in a seeming offhanded tone.

Dovetail glanced at Elita, and then back at the railing in embarrassment. "I added them to the ship's supplies. We'll need them more in the future." She defended herself, but her voice was soft, like a youngling caught doing something she wasn't sure she should have.

Elita sighed deeply and turned to face Dovetail, leaning against the railing and crossing her arms over her chest sternly. "Starving yourself won't help them Dove. They're going to need you out there, more than you realize. And you can't help them if you're extinguished."

Dovetail's hands twisted around the rail nervously. Her creators had perished when she had been just a sparkling, so she didn't really remember them. But she had a feeling that if her femme creator had lived, this is what a scolding would have sounded like.

"I'll have something when I get back." She muttered in embarrassment.

Elita just reached into her subspace and pulled out one of the emergency energon bars she always took with her in the field. "You'll have something now." She insisted, handing it out to Dovetail.

But to Elita's no small surprise, Dovetail shook her head, stubbornly refusing the offering. "No," she said, waving her pale hands in front of her, like the energon bar was something she couldn't afford to touch, "I can't take anymore energon from you. You're going to need it more than I am."

Dovetail frowned down at the railing and after a brief cycle made herself loosen her grip on it. "And besides," she went on quietly but firmly, "I didn't come here to take anything more from you. I came to repay you for all the help you've given me over the stellar cycles."

Elita felt her forehead crease. "You don't owe me anything Dove-" she started.

Dovetail raised a hand to stop the other femme's refusal. "I know." She told her. "But I want to. And I think, staying here, you're going to need all the help you can get."

Elita didn't say anything, just watched Dovetail curiously. For safety's sake, they had never shared details about where they lived or what supplies or equipment they had. But now Elita wondered what Dovetail had gotten her hands on that she thought could be so helpful to her and the rest of the femmes staying behind.

Dovetail fidgeted nervously another handful of kliks, not meeting Elita's optics. "We have a ship," she finally said, and then ignoring the older femme's raised optic ridges quickly added, "an old luxury passenger ship from back before the space bridge network stopped working. Aves rebuilt her engines and Primus only knows what else – I didn't understand all of what he said – but it's fast enough to out fly Skywarp and big enough to carry you and the others. It'll get you off of Cybertron when you finally _do_ leave." She said, looking away.

Elita was stunned. "A _ship_?" She asked. She twisted where she stood, throwing a quick glance at the _Ark_ before turning back to Dovetail. "Why isn't it with the rest of the fleet? You know how scarce working ships are." She paused as something occurred to her. "Where'd you even _find_ an old luxury ship?" She asked.

Dovetail's looked over at her uncertainly from beneath pale optic ridges. "The junkyard." She finally admitted. "It was kind of...gutted of most of its systems. I used to play in the hull when I was little. Before..." she waved a hand at their surroundings in general, "everything."

That did _not_ make Elita-One feel any easier. "_Gutted_?" She whispered a bit harshly.

Dovetail nodded to the side. "Aves did a good job with her." Was her only defense. "And I'm turning her over to you know, aren't I? You can still assign it to the main fleet if you want," she fidgeted again and Elita knew Dovetail hoped she wouldn't, "but no one is going to need a fast ship more than you and the Wreckers, and Aves told me they've already got one."

"So I should keep it for out getaway then, is that it?" Elita asked.

Dovetail met her gaze but didn't give an answer.

The rose red femme found herself shaking her head at Dovetail. "Well you don't have to worry about me giving it away. Prowl told me that we finally got everyone assigned earlier today." She slid the younger femme a look. "Funny how your timing worked out."

Dovetail blinked once, but otherwise didn't react. "Uncanny." She agreed.

Elita relaxed against the railing and loosely crossed her arms again with a shake of her head. "Alright," she caved, "where is it?"

Some of the tension left Dovetail's shoulders, but not all of it. "We stored it in what used to be an underground parking garage not that far from our usual meeting place." She told her, pulling a datapad out of her subspace and queuing up a map already loaded on it so Elita could see where exactly. "And if you go down another level, you'll find one of the side entrances to our underground warren. It should make a nice base until you decide to board the _Starlight_."

Elita's optics locked onto Dovetail's face over the top of the datapad. She wasn't sure which part of that last statement she found the most surprising. True, even together the femmes and Wreckers would never be able to hold Iacon against the Decepticons, however no decisions had been made about where would be best to set up base. An underground headquarters though – already equipped and waiting to be used – brought up a whole new set of possibilities.

Briefly, Elita-One wondered if Dovetail knew just how useful a gift she'd given her. _"Probably." _She decided with a small smile and slow shake of her head.

However all she said out loud was, "So you _have_ been living underground all this time. I had wondered."

Dovetail relaxed a tiny bit more. "You really didn't know?" She asked. "I thought for sure you had guessed after that ordeal with Thundercracker."

Elita stiffened at the reminder of the incident. Out of all the neutrals she knew, only Dovetail would help an injured Decepticon as quickly as she would an Autobot. "Well I knew you had kept _him_ underground, but if I knew you had kept him so close to your home base I wouldn't have just turned around that orbit." She told her, face set like stone.

Dovetail vented a sigh. "So over protective." She grumbled, for an instant sounding more like an annoyed Arcee than calm, collected Dovetail. "I'm not stupid Elita. I didn't keep him _in_ the warren."

Elita grumbled in the back of her vocorder, but let the subject drop. They'd been over this a thousand times already. The thousandth-and-first wouldn't change either of their minds.

The loud clang of metal striking the floor made them both look down. One of the mechs had dropped a box full of what appeared to be miniature _Ark_s and the little models were bouncing and rolling across the floor on rounded edges. The two femmes watched the harried clerk pick them up a long cycle, falling silent.

Finally Elita asked without looking up from the floor below, "If you don't feel like you owe us anything – and you don't –" she insisted with a firm look at the younger femme, "then why are you doing this? A safe place to ride out the Decepticons and a fast ship to get away. You could have kept the – what'd you call it?"

"The _Starlight._" Dovetail readily supplied.

Elita sent her a look that clearly said _'Really?'_. "You named it yourself, didn't you?" She asked instead.

A small smile snuck up on Dove's face. "Yes. It's pretty."

Elita shook her head at the younger bot, but Dove could tell she was amused. "My point is, you could have kept it for yourself and the other neutrals. And you've had this ship awhile now haven't you? No, no-" Elita held up a hand to forestall Dove's protest, "even Aves couldn't have rebuilt a whole engine in the orn we've been looking for ships, much less every major system for an old passenger ship. You could have left a long time ago, just you and your neutrals." She shrugged one shoulder. "So why give it to me?"

Dovetail stared at her for a long cycle, optic ridges creased in concern, but Elita couldn't tell if Dove was worried for her own behalf or what Elita would think of her answer. Before she could come to some kind of decision, Dovetail looked down at the railing. Elita noticed she was wringing her hands again.

"Because you understand," Dovetail said hesitantly, "and not many Autobots...do." She admitted, looking somewhere between scared and uncomfortable now. "Most of them just think we're cowards for not choosing a side, but you know why I didn't; why I couldn't." She said, hands curling tightly into stubborn fists on the rail.

Elita looked down at the floor. No, she supposed not many Autobots would be willing to give Dove a chance if they knew her reasoning for refusing to chose sides. Having a brother on either side of the war tended to make even Autobots nervous. Of course, both mechs had been extinguished now for a long time...

"And I don't-I can't," Dove thunked the railing with her fist, voice becoming more and more strained, "I can't lose anyone else Elita. I can't-" She choked, her emotions overriding her ability to speak with a small gush of static.

Elita put a hand on Dovetail's shoulder, knowing she was thinking of her two older brothers now. "It's going to be alright," she told her softly, "you'll see me again. I'm going to have to return that pretty ship to you eventually now aren't I?"

Dove nodded, but her vents hitched up another level with her internal stress anyway.

Elita gave the younger femme's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "And thank you, for all your help Dovetail."

Dovetail shuttered her optics tightly and nodded. Elita didn't say anything to give her a chance to sort through her turbulent thoughts and emotions. She knew how tired Dove was of being alone.

Finally the younger femme dried her face and straightened up. "Well us femmes got to stick together, now don't we?" She said, voice a little rough around the edges, but otherwise as calm as usual.

Elita smiled slowly, remembering the first time she'd told Dove that, vorns ago now. "Yes we do."

The silence fell between them again, equally heavy and companionable. "It feels like it's taking forever." The younger femme finally commented in a small voice.

Elita followed her line of sight down to the entrance ramp of the _Ark_, just barely visible beneath the bulk of the ship. Everyone's nerves were strung tight with the slowness of the preparations, but moving any faster might have called more of the Decepticons' attention to them than they could handle, so they moved as fast as they dared.

"I know." Elita-One answered, shifting her weight in a semi-concerned motion. The longer preparations took, the higher the chances that Megatron would realize what they were up to. "But we're almost ready. Another orbit or two at the most."

Dovetail nodded, rubbing at her arms like she'd suddenly gone cold. "Part of me still can't believe we have to leave. I mean," she said quickly, hugging herself, "I already thought I'd lost everything that mattered. My brothers, my friends, my home, but this-"

She ran out of words. Her mouth worked for a moment, but there was nothing more she could say.

For the first time, Elita let her full sorrow show on her face. She looked down, unable to look at the _Ark_ right now. She must have run out of words too, because she didn't speak, just nodded.

Dovetail's gaze was too far away to see her. "I just can't believe it's come to this." She said in a small, frightened voice.

Elita vented a core deep sigh. "I know." She murmured, her spark sinking in her chest. "I know. Neither can I."

...

Truth was no one could really believe it. Giving up the planet was just too big for anyone to comprehend. They'd already lost cities, lives, but how do you _lose _a _planet?!_

That's what most of them were saying as they packed what little they had. Most of them were still in denial, although a few had reached the anger stage by now. Compared to them Nathanial felt calm. Sad, heavy with the weight of what they were losing and his part in it (however the self-condemnation from before had left after the Core had addressed him) but calm. He was sympathetic towards the bots, but he couldn't empathize. His home was still out there somewhere, sitting on a planet that had never been theirs to start with. And if for some reason it became uninhabitable (well, more uninhabitable then it already largely was), then they would find a way to reactivate the floating island's flight systems and they would go find a new world. Somewhere else to plant themselves and live until it came time to move again. They never lost their home because they took it with them every time.

Nathanial knew that it could almost be considered cruel, his way of thinking, but that's how it was. The bots would move, just like his people had moved, and they would find new lives and new planets to colonize or assimilate.

But he also knew that, to them, Cybertron would always be home. No matter how many sanctuaries they found or colonies they started, they would always be Cybertronians.

And Nat could understand that. What he wasn't certain of though, was how Aria was taking it.

He'd already checked the _Ark_, but she wasn't with Bumblebee or helping Ratchet and Alpha Trion prepare the massive ship. None of the remaining younglings had seen her either, so really there was only one place left she could be.

There'd been no answer at the door, no call from deeper in the house telling him that Aria was home, but Nathanial had the feeling she was here somewhere. There was nowhere else she would want to be right now. That and the upstairs window was open. She always closed it when she wasn't home.

Nathanial took a few steps back until he could see the curtains billowing out of the glass doors on the second story. "Aria?" Nathanial called up, hoping she could hear him.

There was no answer. Nathanial sighed, thinking she might have her headphones in. She tended to listen to her music loud when she was upset.

He tried the door, and when it opened without even a squeak from the hinges, he poked his head into the entranceway. None of the first floor lights were on and the whole house was quiet.

"Aria?" Nat called again. "Are you up there?"

Still nothing.

Nathanial sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't like the idea of just walking into her house uninvited, but he was _sure_ she was here, just like he was _sure_ that she wasn't handling the news of their impending departure very well.

"If you're up there, I'm coming in." He shouted up the stairs, just to be on the safe side. But even then he hesitated a moment before actually stepping over the threshold.

The rooms on either side of the short entranceway were dim and empty, so after a quick glance at each one, he headed up the stairs. He grimaced as he put his full weight on his left leg. His thigh ached something fierce after his and Peg's tangle with Skywarp and then getting thrown from the Underworld creature's explosion down near the Core, but fortunately even after all that abuse, nothing was actually broken. He was banged up all to the Pit and back, and his skin was going to multi-colored for weeks, but nothing that wouldn't heal.

He limped up the rest of the stairs, letting lose a pent up breath when he finally reached the second story. He looked around to get his bearings, but there were only two doors up here. Not sure what to do, he carefully knocked on the door to the left of the stairs.

"Aria?" He called through the closed door. "Are you alright in there?"

"Wrong door Nathanial." The muffled words came through the door behind him. "That's the bathroom."

Nathanial cleared his throat in embarrassment and quickly turned around to hobble to door number two. He waited until he didn't feel so red in the face before hesitantly rapping a knuckle against the metal surface.

"Aria?" He tried again, but she must have fallen back on her earlier silence because no more words appeared. "Aria I'm," he cleared his throat, "I'm coming in."

He cracked the door open, and then when there weren't any shouted, "What the heck are you doing?! Get out of here!" like he half expected, he swung it open the rest of the way.

She was sitting in the middle of her bed, sheets twisted around her curled up body like some kind of hastily made nest. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her drawn up legs and her chin tucked onto her knees. At first Nathanial thought she was staring at the headboard, but then realized she was actually staring at the two large characters etched into the wall above it. Nathanial glanced at them, thinking it odd that they looked like they'd been carved there with a laser scalpel, but didn't ask about it when he noticed that more glyphs had been carved along the baseboards and up near the ceiling.

"Aria?" Nathanial asked softly as he came into the empty room. "Are you alright?"

She didn't look away from the characters scrawled on her wall. For a long minute, Nat thought she wasn't going to answer him at all, but then she flicked a finger towards the large unfamiliar characters without unwrapping her arm from around her knees.

"You know what that one means?" She asked. She refused to lift her chin from her knees so her words came out a little muffled.

Nat took a few steps closer to get a better look at the glyphs, but unless it was some kind of ancient pictograph about a bear attacking a tortoise, he was coming up clueless. "No." He told her, not bothering to bring up the tortoise and the bear.

"It means 'Jie Mei'." She mumbled, eyes never leaving the glyphs.

"That's what the younglings call you." He observed. His thigh was killing him (not to mention he felt like a complete idiot standing in the middle of the empty floor) so he gestured at the empty space next to her. "Can I sit?" He asked tiredly.

He thought it might be a sign of her inner panic that she didn't even look at him, just nodded jerkily.

"They made up the word just for me." She told him as he stiffly sat down on the edge of the bed and stretched out his legs to try and get rid of the ache. "Bee and Arcee carved it into the wall themselves. Waaaay back when." She mumbled.

Nat looked up at the two characters again before turning his head to look at all the others decorating her bedroom walls. "Do they all mean something?"

Again with the jerky nod. "Yep." She muttered dryly. "It was the kids' idea. They wanted to give me a 'good house' so they carved their wishes for me in these walls." She snorted a laugh. "I don't know if this is what they do here when people get new homes or if they got the idea from one of the stories I told them – there were so many. I can't remember them all – but Elita told me later that the kids insisted they had to write good things on the walls to make it Jie Mei's place. Otherwise, they said, it would just be a house."

They fell silent again, Aria falling back into her thoughts, her eyes dark and forehead creased with bitterness and worry. Nathanial looked down at his hands. Yes, he supposed it was obvious this was not just her house.

He looked up again, wishing there was some way he could make this better and knowing there wasn't. "I can make out some of them." He finally said and then reached up a hand to point at one of the more rounded glyphs etched near the ceiling. "That one says 'good dreams' for instance."

Aria nodded. "That's Beachcomber's." She mumbled.

Nathanial's eyes flicked down the row of glyphs until he found another familiar symbol. "Oh, 'stubborn determination'. You don't see that one often."

Aria's shoulders twitched in a near silent laugh. "Hound always did have a sense of humor."

Nat nodded, beginning to see a pattern between the glyphs and the bots that wrote them. "Let me see, 'common sense' – I bet that belongs to Ratchet given his irritation with stupidity in general – and, hmm...there isn't really a word for this one in English but I suppose the meaning is along the lines of 'cross every line they give you and you'll know where you stand'. I'd bet my eyeteeth that's one of the twins."

"Sideswipe." Aria mumbled.

Nathanial nodded, half a smile appearing on his face. "Sounds like Sideswipe. And I'm guessing the 'artistic vision' next to it is Sunny's?"

Aria nodded. "That's one of my favorites." She told him in a small voice.

Nathanial looked around at the rest of the glyphs. Mostly they said things like 'luck' and 'prosperity', but occasionally he found more specific ones like 'clear sight' and 'true wealth'. And then there were the more interesting ones that sounded more like inside jokes like, 'Never doubt you can fly, because once you do, you can't' and 'live long and prosper'.

He pointed at a string of three angular glyphs etched above her bedroom door. "That one's actually more of a saying; 'Live at the speed of light and you'll have more fun'." He squinted, reading the words slowly as he tried to ferret out their exact meaning.

Aria snorted. "You give Hot Rod too much credit. It's 'live fast or die trying'."

Nat chuckled under his breath. That sounded more like something the impulsive mech would say.

The characters etched near the baseboard seemed to be...stranger than the ones near the ceiling. "'Boredom is for losers'?" Nathanial read before looking over at Aria in disbelief. "They have a word for that?"

Aria didn't answer, but he did catch the slightest ghost of a grin on her face so he pressed on. A cycle later, Nat found an even stranger one.

"'Slothfulness'?" He asked in obvious confusion. "Why would someone wish you slothfulness?"

A strangled laugh finally broke through Aria's misery and she buried her face in her hands. "Oh my poor Bluestreak!" Nat managed to make out past the watery sound. "He-he has such horrible handwriting! No one can ever tell what it says."

Nathanial looked at the word again, but even knowing that Bluestreak would never wish his sister slothfulness, he still couldn't see anything else. "Well what's it supposed to say?"

Aria's laughter petered out. She sat quietly, fiddling with the stray threads of her pants before finally whispering, "'Togetherness'."

Nat looked down at his own hands. It would have been sweet if Aria hadn't sounded so heartbroken.

"You heard about Arcee and Val." He ventured softly.

Aria didn't speak, but she nodded. And then she buried her head in her hands again. "It's not fair." She whispered, but Nat could still hear the cracks in her voice. "How can I just _leave_ them here? You're not supposed to leave people behind Nat – not ever!" She insisted, voice growing louder before sinking back down to its original volume. "And now I've got to leave all three of them and then some..."

Nathanial nodded, understanding how shefelt, but once again unable to empathize. Atala didn't have the same cultural stresses as Aria's native Texas. 'Never leave a man behind' wasn't heard of where he'd grown up; instead it was a known impossibility. War was hell, and sometimes you just couldn't drag everyone back out of it.

Nathanial sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He still wished that was a lesson she didn't have to learn though.

"Are you all packed?" He eventually asked gently.

Aria nodded, and then with an ugly sniff, lifted her face halfway out of her hands. "Yes. I was just saying goodbye to this place."

He watched as her blue eyes travelled over the familiar lines of her room. "They made me this house." She said a long cycle later. "It's probably doll sized to them, but it's mine. I've lived here the past-" she flapped a hand, "whoever-knows-how-long." She looked around at the empty room. "It'll probably be incinerated when the Decepticons come for Iacon." She mumbled.

Nathanial followed her gaze. Given the way Aria could lose anything and everything important in a matter of seconds, he guessed that the room had been stripped of its clutter not long ago. There were faint discolorations on the walls where decorations had been removed. The cracked open door of the wardrobe showed a single forgotten hanger lying on the bottom shelf. A collection of dust bunnies to the side of the open glass doors said that some kind of furniture had recently been removed.

In fact the only things that hadn't been taken were the curtains still billowing in the automated breeze of the air conditioner and the sigils running along the walls and furniture. Curtains were useless on a ship where there weren't any windows, and there wasn't a way for her to take her blessed glyphs with her.

"It's never been this clean before." She admitted, confirming Nat's suspicions. "I hate it."

Nathanial nodded again. "Are you sure that isn't because you're allergic to cleanliness?" He asked, aiming for light and only half succeeding.

Aria snorted a tearful laugh anyway. There was no use denying it; she hated cleaning more than she hated Shockwave. Well...almost more than Shockwave.

"You know you could still leave." She said a moment later. Nat's attempt at humor had helped her stop crying, but her voice was still ragged around the edges. "Go through the ground bridge and pick up where you left off."

Nathanial heaved a sigh. "I could." He conceded. "I even thought about it after things had calmed down after Tyger Pax," he admitted, making Aria blink in surprise. She hadn't known he'd thought about leaving so recently. "But the thing is..." he straightened up, but didn't finish as he stared at the 'true wealth' glyph without totally seeing it.

Aria watched him silently, head tilted slightly so that it was resting on her arms as she wondered how that sentence ended.

"The thing is," he finally said very slowly, "that I don't want to pick up where I left off. I don't even want to go back and start over." He admitted, meeting her red-rimmed eyes so directly that she had no doubt he was telling this to her and her alone. "I want to stay here. With you," he paused slightly nearly making Aria's heart start beating in her throat before adding, "and them."

Aria swallowed, sending her heart back to its proper place in her chest when her brain finally registered the rest of the sentence. Maybe he wasn't talking so directly to her like she'd first thought.

"I think," he went on a cycle later when she didn't say anything, "it's like what the younglings said about giving you a 'good house'. I thought that's what I had before I came here – for the most part anyway – because it was the only house I'd ever known." He half shrugged. "But now I know more of what a home is supposed to feel like, and I don't want to give that up," he looked away from her again, "even though I know I broke the foundation."

Aria's eyes drifted down towards her toes. They were scrunched into the blankets and she wriggled them as she stared. It was true, her trust in him had been pretty much shattered when he'd finally told them about the dark energon lens...but maybe it wasn't as broken as she'd first thought.

"I know I didn't say it earlier – I didn't think it would do any good – but I'm sorry Aria. I dug myself a hole and I couldn't find a way out, but I'm still sorry that I didn't tell you about the lens sooner."

Nathanial's voice was subdued and quiet, and Aria believed him, despite the ache that still pinched at her spark-heart even now. She nodded, feeling the need to acknowledge his words somehow.

Hesitantly, Nat reached out and covered one of Aria's hands with his.

Aria closed her eyes tight, too afraid to look at him right now. But God, this was hard! She had never wanted to lean on him so badly as right then. To drop her fear that he would only hurt her again and just rely on him completely.

But she couldn't. There were so many cracks inside her now – left by the knowledge of just how much she was on the brink of losing forever – that it would only take one good blow to shatter her completely. And if she trusted Nathanial only to end up numb inside again...well there were just some things she couldn't recover from.

So she didn't take his hand in return. She didn't move away, but she didn't hold on either. And eventually Nathanial leaned back, not sure how to interpret her reaction.

Aria broke the following awkward silence with a damp-eyed sniff. She finally uncurled from her drawn up position and rubbed at her nose with a dingy shift sleeve. "We should get out of here." She mumbled.

Nat blinked at her. "Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" He gestured at the glyphs surrounding them. "I know I interrupted you up here."

But Aria shook her head and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She couldn't bring herself to look at the bare walls and gutted room any longer. "No, I've said my goodbyes. And besides, I should probably spend time with Arcee, Val, Cloud, and Fastlane while I still can."

Nathanial looked up at her. This was new. "Cloudraker and Fastlane? But they're leaving too. You're not going to have to leave them here."

Aria just stood and hugged herself. She couldn't look at him now, for very different reasons than before. "Not everyone can fit on the _Ark_ Nat." She told him in a ragged-edged whisper.

Nathanial looked down at his boots in shock. "Figures," he muttered, "just when I was starting to like them."

Aria nodded but couldn't speak. She half turned towards him a moment later and Nathanial saw that her face was damp again. "I'll um, I'll see you later alright?"

Nathanial nodded, leaning his elbows on his knees where he still sat on the edge of the bed. He watched silently as Aria quickly left the room, but not before touching the scrawled 'Jie Mei' in farewell.

Nathanial heard the front door clack shut a few cycles later. Aria obviously didn't want to linger now that she'd said goodbye to the place she'd called home for her entire adult life.

With a sigh, Nat leaned forward, shoving his hands through his hair and holding his head as he stared at the floor between his boots. Aria was right, none of this was fair. They'd already lost so much, but to lose a _planet_...

Alright, so maybe he wasn't as calm about this as he had figured.

He followed Aria's path down the stairs a handful of cycles later. But he returned later that night, vibroblade in hand. And when he left again fifteen minutes later with a large slab tucked under his arm, the only sign that he'd been inside was a rectangular hole cut into the bedroom wall above the headboard.

Two orbits later, all the preparations were complete and the mass exodus began.


	39. Chapter 39: The Vault

Alright guys, here we go. The war for Cybertron is about to end. The question is will our favorite Autobots survive the encounter? Well? Will they?! o.O

;3 Thanks go to L.M.L. Gaia Kame, Jimmy 144, Diisuna, and Nightwing101 for their reviews and questions! I grinned like a maniac when I saw them in my inbox and then even more when I read them! You guys are awesome!

Now I really hope you enjoy this chapter! It's got lots of parts that I really liked writing, along with a few hints of MTMTE (I think I must have just finished reading one of them before I wrote this...) So enjoy, review (please!) and see you next Tuesday! :D

* * *

><p>To L.M.L. (because I can't pm you directly): YAY! Oh thank you thank you thank you so much! I don't even know if I have words to explain how happy your review made me! My original characters are, naturally, very dear to me since I made them up myself, and to hear that you like <em>all<em> of them when you don't usually like any oc's just made me want to explode with joy! So again I say YAY! xD

And I'm very glad to hear you like Dovetail in particular. I have a soft spot for her and even started writing a story around her to get a better grip on her character for her part in _Long Road Home_. Like my other TF stories it has it's own share of canon characters in it too, but I wasn't sure how it would be received since she _is_ an oc. But your review has encouraged me to post it later on, so thank you for that!

And never apologize for a long review. We authors THRIVE on them! ;)

...

The Long Road Home

39 – The Vault – 39

Three teams went out looking for the dark energon lens. In the few orns since the trip to the Core, none of the Autobot infiltrators had been able to pinpoint the lens' exact location. The obvious choice was wherever Megatron was – currently the Vosian mountains halfway between the Decepticon home base of Kaon and the remains of Tyger Pax – but no reports could concretely put the lens' presence there. Regardless, Mirage and two of the Aerialbots who had grown up in those mountains were headed that way just in case.

Kaon was the second choice and that's where Jazz and his four bot team were headed. They'd been the first team out of Iacon since their destination was the farthest away. But the Decepticons must have still been recovering from their own losses from Tyger Pax and the loss of the AllSpark because they hadn't seen any of them on the trip down.

They made good time and arrived thirty cycles ahead of their projected time. They stopped on the bluffs that protected one side of the city to get a better look at what they were getting themselves into.

"I don't know if I've ever seen them so riled up before." Hot Spot commented from Jazz's side. They were both lying face down at the edge of the bluff, watching the city through high magnification binoculars.

Jazz grunted an agreement. This all felt eerily similar to that failed patrol along the Kalis-Iacon power conduit where he'd first run into a darkened 'con. It was making him uneasy and he didn't like it. That and the ever present grit had found its way in between the seams in his armor and it itched something fierce.

"Their patrols seem a little more erratic than usual. I guess dark energon makes it hard to concentrate on where yer goin'." Jazz muttered as he watched the Decepticons at the edge of the city rove the boundaries in twos and threes. They deviated from the normal paths that Jazz had observed beforehand, often times to go and tangle with a different group of 'cons. Almost all of them, he noticed, had glowing, violet optics.

The small mech vented a grim sigh and lowered the magnifiers. "It's gonna be tricky avoidin' all of 'em." He told the others. "They look like someone went and kicked their little anthill."

Hot Spot lowered his own binoculars and turned towards Jazz with a confused look. "Someone kicked their _what_?" He asked quietly.

Despite their circumstances, Jazz grinned, just a little, and shook his head at the young mech. "Never mind there Spot," he slapped Hot Spot on the shoulder, "organic reference. Means they're fragged and goin' to be a pain in the aft to deal with."

Hot Spot looked like he didn't know what to do with this information, so he just nodded slowly and muttered, "Uh huh..."

Jazz gave him a hard grin before grabbing his magnifiers and army crawling backwards away from the bluff. When he was out of sight of anyone watching from the city below, he got to his feet and joined the remaining members of his team.

Blades and Brawn didn't seem all that different to him – if you didn't count the glaringly obvious differences in height, color, and alt-modes anyway. Both mechs were well known for their abrasive personalities and their inordinately large weapons collections. That, plus their tendency to throw themselves into any kind of fight, no matter what the odds, made them prefect choices for this little jaunt into Kaon.

The odd pair were muttering to each other as they checked their respective weapons when Jazz joined them.

"Are we leaving soon?" Blades asked as Jazz approached, sounding more like an adolescent than a grown mech. "It's fraggin' quiet up here and it's bugging me."

Brawn rolled his optics at the red and white heli-bot. "Would you quit whining? We'll get there when we get there." He turned toward Jazz, pointedly ignoring Blades. "So when are we going down?" He asked.

"Soon as Hot Spot finds us a way through the outer defenses." Jazz told them. "Once we're through, we head straight for the vault. Word is that Megatron put something big down there, but we're not sure if it's the lens or somethin' else or just a rumor. So don't be too disappointed if we come back empty handed."

Blades stared at him. "Will there be lots of Decepticons to kick outta the way?" He asked.

Jazz shrugged one shoulder. "Probably."

"Then I won't be disappointed." He said and then slid an oddly curved knife home at his side. The little _snick_ of the blade against the sheath added an uneasy kind of emphasis to his words.

Jazz just stared at him. "You're just _tryin'_ to be creepy now, aren't ya?"

Blades pointedly looked away. "Maybe." He admitted.

Brawn shook his head and grumbled something under his breath. Jazz wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that kind of bloodlust, so he decided not to say anything at all. Okay, so maybe this team had a few more brawlers than the one he'd led along the power conduit, but maybe that meant they had a greater chance of getting out of this mess still functioning.

...

The ships scattered throughout Iacon and the remains of the nearby Hydrax Space Port were fueled and waiting for the lift off command, their occupants sealed away and shivering in their dim recesses as they tried not to let the silent comms. rattle them.

There was only one ship still waiting for its passengers by now. The _Ark,_ like every other ship in the hodge-podge fleet, was in standby, however its ramp was still down. It was propped upright on its multiple thrusters so that its rounded nose faced the hidden sky and various gasses swirled around the base of the ship like oddly colored clouds as Sideswipe and the other techs ran through preflight checks they'd only read about before in old manuals. The garage's ceiling wouldn't be retracted until the _Ark's _ramp was closed and they were ready for take-off.

Ratchet understood why. The Autobot's so called flagship wasn't exactly easy to miss with its optic-catching paint job and the heavy layer of charcoal dust coating its exterior. Best to keep it out of sight until it was time to hit the sky.

The Autobot CMO tilted his head back, craning his neck to face that hidden sky. If he had known when he'd taken the crosswalk this morning that it would be the last time he would see Cybertron's sky, he would have unburied his nose from the numerous patient files in his hands and taken a good long look.

The CMO snorted and started walking briskly towards the waiting ship again. _"Yeah right." _He grumbled to himself.

His long stride stuttered when he saw there was someone waiting for him in the shadow of the _Ark's_ gangway. At least, he assumed she was waiting for him.

"Moonracer?" He asked when he got close enough. "What are you doing here?"

The sea-green femme jumped at his question. She'd been looking up into the orange ship's innards and hadn't seen him coming.

She tried to smile at the older bot, but Ratchet saw the signs of her poorly hidden strain anyway. "Hey Ratchet," she said, voice too light to be real, "I was-" she cleared her vocorder quickly and pointed up the gangway, "I was just waiting for Arcee. She's, um, she's saying bye to Bee."

"Ah," Ratchet hummed quietly. Moonracer, out of things to say, just nodded and looked down at the ground, nervously rubbing at her upper arm with her other hand.

A silence fell between them. It was heavy, but not awkward. More like they both felt this was the end and neither wanted to acknowledge it for fear it would make it real.

"You-you heard that we're staying behind?" Moonracer finally mumbled uncertainly, glancing up at Ratchet briefly with dim optics.

Ratchet's optics flicked to the floor before finding her face again. He nodded. "Yeah." He muttered back.

Moonracer nodded, her one hand still holding tight to her arm. "Then I guess-" her voice broke and she stopped until it was fixed, "I guess this is goodbye..."

The young femme trailed off uncertainly. Ratchet noticed she couldn't meet his optics now.

_"Slag," _he thought to himself with a deep sigh, _"I'm too out of practice with this stuff."_

He set his patient reports on the gangplank with a grunt before straightening up again and walking closer to the young femme. "C'mere," he muttered before drawing her into a rare hug.

If she was surprised at the gesture, Ratchet couldn't tell. Although it did take her a moment to remember that she was supposed to hug him back, so he figured he must have surprised her at least a little bit. But she didn't let go for a long time, so that was okay.

"You find him if you can brightspark." He told her well before that. "You find him and you bring him back to the both of us. But mostly," he paused pulling back so that he could look down at her face, "mostly you look after yourself, alright?"

Luna blinked damp optics up at the medic before nodding agreement. "I will Uncle Ratch'." She promised.

Ratchet nodded, putting a hand on her head. "That's my girl." He mumbled paternally as he hugged her close again. "You'll be alright."

Moonracer just squeezed her optics closed and nodded against his shoulder, too scared to let go just yet.

But eventually she did. Ratchet didn't say anything when she pulled away and dried her optics. He watched as she pulled herself together and buried her fear way down where it couldn't keep her from doing what needed to be done.

He felt a little twinge of pride in her, but waited silently until she'd built her walls back up before giving her what passed for a Ratchet-smile. "And for Primus' sake when you do find him, keep him _away_ from the blasting caps. AllSpark knows that won't keep him from blowing himself to smithereens, but it should at least _help_." He grumbled good naturedly.

That got a tiny laugh out of the femme. "Sure thing," she promised, "I'll hide them in an instruction manual. He never reads those things anyway." She joked right back.

Ratchet's face softened, just for an instant, until the familiar sound of boots against the gangway appeared above them.

His usual frown reappeared as he and Moonracer looked up to see Arcee coming towards them, the back of her hand pressed to her nose in a gesture she'd picked up from Aria.

"Did you get to say goodbye?" Moonracer asked when the youngest femme joined them at the bottom of the ramp.

Arcee shut her optics and shook her head. "No," she said after a moment, "no he was, he was still out cold and I didn't-I didn't want to just leave a note." She huffed a strained laugh. "How stupid would that be?"

Ratchet and Moonracer didn't answer her. Instead the medic asked, "You want me to give him a message when he wakes up again?"

She didn't say it, but she was relieved that he didn't say _if _he woke up again. "Um-yeah." She mumbled. But then her usual fire came back in her optics and she said more firmly. "Yeah, tell him if he doesn't take care of himself I'm going to find him and kick his skid plate from here to Earth."

Ratchet chuckled. Now _that_ sounded like the Arcee they all knew. "Sure thing."

Arcee nodded once, face set. "Well come on Luna. Elita commed me a minute ago. Time to head out and show those violet-optic freaks who's really in charge here." She said, cracking her knuckles in another strange Earth gesture.

Ratchet cringed at the awful sound of digits popping. What he wouldn't give for a time machine to keep Aria from teaching _that_ to the younglings, however unintentionally.

"Watch your backs out there." Ratchet told them as the two femmes started to walk away.

"Will do." Arcee promised loudly, throwing one hand in the air with thick bravado.

Moonracer stopped though and looked back at him. "You too Uncle Ratch'." She told him.

Ratchet met her optics and nodded. "I will Luna." He promised.

Luna gave him a small smile before jogging to catch up with Arcee a few steps ahead now.

Ratchet watched them leave. As the doors closed behind the pink and green forms of Arcee and Moonracer, the medic did something he hadn't done since his daughter had failed to get well what felt like a lifetime ago; he prayed. It was just a little one, barely more than a stray thought, and he knew it was an act of desperation rather than any kind of real belief. He hadn't had any kind of true faith since the day his femmeling had gone offline.

But he was just so tired of losing friends – of being unable to save them – and if there was even the _slightest_ chance that out there, somewhere, someone really was listening – higher power, divine interloper, whatever the heck you wanted to call them – well he supposed that if they saved Moonracer and Wheeljack then it would be worth the knock to his atheistic pride.

He never admitted his moment of weakness to anybody, for as long as he lived, so no one ever knew if he regretted it in the end or not.

The door finally closed behind the young femmes, cutting them off from view. Ratchet slowly shuttered his optics, his face settling into its usual stern expression as he once again closed himself off to the world at large. Part of his spark felt numb as he bent down to retrieve his patient files, but he couldn't tell if it was because they were getting closer to leaving Cybertron or because he was afraid he'd just seen Moonracer for the last time.

He straightened up with a tired groan and, tucking the files under one arm, set his back to the hanger door and boarded the _Ark_.

...

Jazz pressed himself deeper into the shadows of Kaon as another round of darkened Decepticons trundled down the street, their heavy treads grinding against the ruined streets.

::I thought Hot Spot said this was the easiest way in!:: Brawn pulsewaved the team irritably.

::It is!:: Hot Spot sent back defensively.

::Yeah?:: Blades stepped in snarkily. ::Well another group of Decepticons is headed your way genius. What do you suggest we do now?::

::I know they're coming this way! Just chill for two seconds you moron and trust me!::

::And why should I do that again?:: Blades shot back.

Jazz rolled his optics at them. Most bots said that Hot Spot and Blades were friends. _"If this is them bein' friends, I'd hate to hear what they have to say to their enemies."_ He thought to himself with a frown as he carefully peered through the grate of the third story fire escape he was hiding on. The lead Decepticon tank had transformed, fusion cannon held easily in one hand as he scanned the area for anything strange.

::They're getting closer.:: Brawn observed. Jazz looked up and saw the smaller mech hidden in the alleyway across the road. Directly below the silver saboteur, Hot Spot's blue and black paintjob was just barely visible in the building's shadow.

Jazz motioned for them to stay in place.

::Want I should take care of the new comers?:: Blades asked, the _thumpata thumpata _of his spinning rotors getting louder as he hovered above their heads in his helicopter mode.

Jazz glanced up at the purple and green helicopter. He wasn't sure where the copter-bot had gotten an electric paintjob chip, but it did come in handy every now and then.

::Hold off on that Blades.:: He sent the hovering mech. ::Let's not give ourselves away too quick now.::

He heard the helicopter give an angry, "Tch," before backing off.

The sound of revving motors made Jazz look back down at the street level. Down at the other end of the crumbled street, the second Decepticon team had finally appeared. There were four of them – all car alt-modes rather than tanks – and Jazz didn't recognize any of them, even when they had transformed from four flashy cars into four flashy mechs. He _did_ notice though, that all but one had violet optics.

::Looks like they know each other.:: Brawn muttered as the lead tank snarled something at the other 'cons.

The mech behind the lead of the car gang suddenly pulled a modified grenade launcher out of his subspace.

::Yeah I'll say!:: Hot Spot thought in a slightly higher register than before as the launcher dropped into the car-bot's hand.

There was a bass _thunk_ when he fired. The Autobots ducked their heads to keep from taking any debris in the face, so none of them saw the moment of impact as the sticky grenade hit the lead tank's chest armor and stuck firm. The following explosion however, was a bit harder to miss.

The Autobots peered out a nano-klik after the explosion had ended. The lead tank was nothing more than a smoking pair of legs now, much to his two friends' astonishment.

::Oh frag-:: Hot Spot mumbled as what moments ago had been a left leg fell to the broken ground with an empty, metallic _tang_.

::And _that's _how the Magma Frag Launcher got its name:: Brawn said.

Jazz cracked a grin as down in the street below, the two remaining tanks attacked the other mechs. ::Hot Spot, you are one sneaky little glitch!:: He laughed over the short pulsewave. ::You planned this didn't you?::

Hot Spot looked up at him through the fire escape grating and shrugged. ::They're all hyped up on dark energon and out for innermost energon, no matter who's it is. Not much planning was required.::

::Hmph,:: Blades snorted from on high. ::Watching them take out each other just sucks the fun out of coming to Kaon if you ask me.:: He grumbled.

::Relax Blades, you'll get your chance to knock Decepticon heads before we head back.:: Jazz assured him. ::Now head to the mission objective and make sure the coast is clear. We'll slip around these guys as soon as we can and join you.::

::I'm holding you to that whole knocking heads things.:: Blades sent, but flew on regardless.

::All clear Jazz.:: Blades sent back a few cycles later. ::You've got about a breem before the guards circle around the building again.::

::Understood.:: Jazz sent back. ::Things are almost finished here too. Just another klik...::

Down in the street, the final tank fired off one last shell, knocking out the last few columns out from under an already derelict building. The two remaining car bots looked up as it fell towards them, but only one had the sense to move before it crashed on top of them.

The tank laughed darkly at the other end, but trailed off as he finally noticed that the one of the flashy mech's bullet had landed in his main energon line. In what felt like slow motion to the Autobots watching, he fell to the ground, energon leaving his neck in a bright green line down his chest armor.

Jazz jumped down from the fire escape landing he'd been watching from. By the time his feet hit the ground with a slight crunch, the Decepticon's optics had flickered out.

::Roll out!:: Jazz signaled Blades and Brawn. ::Looks like that last one's only unconscious.::

The three Autobots weaved through the last two blocks between them and the low, squat building that was their destination. Above them, Blades hovered over the city watching for any other Decepticon patrols that might get too close, the repetitious sound of his rotors forming a background noise in the rest of his teams' processors.

Jazz ran across the final street separating him from the square building, skidding across the gravel of the last few feet and turning around so that his back met the structure's west wall. He waited to see if anyone had noticed his arrival, and then motioned the others forward with two digits.

The Decepticon Office of Acquisitions was probably the most _boring_ building Jazz had ever seen. A perfect cube in shape with tan walls that had been darkened with black and purple graffiti from a time before the war when Kaon had been little more than an industrial slum. It had two doors – front and back – and no windows. Built before the war, obviously the city bureaucrats hadn't really cared to spend anymore credits than strictly necessary on the ugly office building.

The inside was no less drab. Murk-stained walls and only a few florescent lights to push back the gloom, Jazz no longer wondered why Kaon wasn't known for its architecture.

There was only one guard on the ground level – an average, red-optic, Decepticon at that too – and he caused no trouble for the four Autobots that stormed into the little building. They took care of him easily before making their way deeper into the building.

Brawn groaned when they found the door they wanted. ::Stairs.:: He grumbled as Jazz opened the door, waiting for Hot Spot to clear it first. ::Why did it have to be stairs?::

Jazz just grinned at him before diving through the doorway after the blue Autobot. ::You don't expect Kaon city government to waste perfectly good credits on elevators now do ya?::

Brawn just groaned again before following him in to the stairwell, making sure the door closed behind him quietly in case anyone else was around the listen.

Three flights of metal stairs circled above their heads, but the Autobots hardly glanced at them except to make sure they were empty. Instead Jazz turned towards the inside wall next to him and entered a hard-won pass code into the glyph-pad set into the wall.

::That code better work.:: Brawn grumbled as they waited for the wall pad to accept the code. ::My friend was extinguished over that thing.::

Jazz didn't say anything, but there was a grim set to his mouth as he finished putting in the code.

The keypad flashed green with a faint buzz and behind them a false wall was pulled away, revealing another set of stairs, this one leading down.

Jazz clapped Brawn on the shoulder before heading down, finger on the trigger incase anymore Decepticons appeared to stop them.

But none appeared. Jazz had expected at least a few to be left behind to guard the infamous Decepticon 'Vault', but every corner was empty except for them.

::I don't like this.:: Brawn said after the third empty corner.

::Yeah,:: Hot Spot added. ::Why aren't there more guards down here? I thought this place was special.::

::Oh it's special alright.:: Jazz confirmed as he cautiously led the way forward and down. ::'Office of Decepticon Acquisitions' is just a fancy name for Megatron's treasure room. He had Shockwave build this special underground vault to keep all his toys in. Every piece of stolen Autobot tech or information ends up down here eventually.::

Brawn nudged the blue and black bot walking next to him. ::Even some of the prisoners end up down here.::

Hot Spot's optics couldn't have gotten any bigger. ::Serious?:: He asked.

Brawn leveled a stare at him. ::If I were any more serious I'd be Prowl.::

::But then,:: Hot Spot's optic ridges drew close together in thought. ::If this is where Megatron stashes all his top-secret toys, why did he leave it undefended? Where are all the supped-up dark cons to keep us out?:: He suddenly stopped on the staircase, one foot in the air. ::Is this a trap?:: He asked, optics wide.

::Oh, they definitely know we're here.:: Jazz told him calmly. ::But the Decepticons had their own fair share of losses at Tyger Pax. My guess is that whatever Megatron's got up his vambrace, he's pulling all his still usable forces to defend _that_.:: He rounded another landing before speaking again.

::As for the dark cons,:: He looked at Hot Spot over his shoulder with a grin. ::Well, would you want a bunch of dark cons standing guard over all your favorite trophies?::

Hot Spot blinked. ::No I guess not...:: he admitted.

Brawn vented a snort. ::Not unless you want them ground to dust in a record time.::

::We're here.::

Jazz's message stopped them all in their tracks, although Hot Spot couldn't have told you why he was so surprised that they had reached the entrance to Megatron's Vault. Currently the only thing they could see was the door – and it looked _exactly_ like Hot Spot thought a vault door belonging to Megatron would look like; secure and dismal.

Hot Spot only realized he was gaping slightly when Brawn elbowed his arm. ::Quit gawkin' and crack 'er open kid. We don't got all orbit.::

Hot Spot snapped his mouth shut and nodded. ::You know,:: He sent them as he tore off the outer casing of the wall panel that connected with the alarm controls. ::If you had told me back before the Decepticons appeared that one day I would be hacking security systems instead of putting them together for the Cybertron high and mighty-::

::You would have laughed at us and called us crazy?:: Brawn hazarded.

Hot Spot snorted a laugh, the sound strange against their audios after so much silence. ::No, I would have recited all the laws that would be breaking and gone and called the cops. I was a painfully boring, law abiding citizen back then you know. That's probably why they made me an installer in the first place.::

Something clicked in the door mechanism, cutting off any response. Hot Spot let the wires he'd been messing with dangle out of the wall as he got to his feet. He and took up position behind Jazz on one side of the door as it rolled ponderously open, with Brawn on the other side, ready for anything that might come barreling through.

The door locked into its recess with a final ominous _clunk_, but otherwise there was no sound, either from up above them or from inside the Vault itself.

Hot Spot watched as Jazz listened for any noise inside the Vault, and when none appeared, he nodded at the mini-con on the other side of the entrance. He didn't hear the silent count down, but he figured there must have been one when Brawn and Jazz moved into the doorway at the same time, Brawn going low and Jazz covering him from his naturally higher vantage point.

"Not readin' any Decepticon signatures," Jazz said out loud for the first time since they'd entered Kaon, but he kept his voice down still. "Keep an optic out, but they mighta just cleared out to help with whatever it is Megatron's plannin' next." He turned and nodded at the shorter mech straightening up next to him. "Brawn, you take the left, Hot Spot, go down the middle. I'll take right. Let's see if we can't find that lens."

Hot Spot, still in the outer hall, nodded and stepped inside after the other two...and then felt his jaw hit the floor.

"Whoa..." He mumbled, the word echoing slightly in the immense space.

The Vault was low ceilinged and wide, exactly like what you thought an underground storage room was supposed to look like. And it was so packed to the gills with Autobot weapons and lost tech that the blue mech was almost positive he was seeing things.

He snapped out of it when Brawn clapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the Vault kid." He told him before hefting his stocky weapon and moving to the check the left half of the room, leaving Hot Spot to gawk at the aisle right in front of him.

Jazz just shook his head at the young mech before heading his own way, digit on the trigger in case the Decepticons were only hiding deeper in the Vault.

"Boy, when you said lost tech you weren't kidding!" Hot Spot's voice came out of the rough middle of the room, paralleling Jazz's path as he crept along the aisle, sensors keen for anyone else that might be there. "I think I found Wheeljack's first Immobilizer! Hey, do you suppose they have Ratchet's sense of humor in here somewhere?" He cackled at his own joke.

Jazz barely grinned. ::I don't like this.:: Brawn sent him over the still open channel. ::Either the dang thing's here and they're waiting to ambush us, or it isn't and we're wasting our time.::

Jazz didn't say anything. Personally he thought this was a great exercise in 'how to waste time 101', but it was at least _possible_ the lens was down here somewhere, tucked safely out of the way so that no nosy Autobots (like them) would stumble across it by accident.

"No way!" Hot Spot suddenly shouted, startling Brawn into knocking something over (if the sudden clatter on the other side of the room was anything to go by). "Is tha-no! Is that Brainstorm's _suitcase?!"_

Jazz sighed. _"Of all the useless scrap to get shoved down here..." _He thought before finally replying to Brawn. ::Yeah I know, but we gotta make sure.:: He frowned suddenly remembering something. ::And tell me if ya find my other grappling hook in here. I let Sideswipe borrow it _one _time and he goes and loses it not an hour later on the field.::

There was a snerk from somewhere on the Vault's far side. ::And your _surprised?_:: Brawn shot back.

Jazz didn't answer. He'd just stepped out of the aisle he'd been searching and into a clear space in the middle of the Vault's clutter. In front of him was a bizarre scientific setup he'd never seen before, not even down in Perceptor's lab. A ring of computers, each as high as the Vault's walls, stood in front of him, with a break big enough for a mech to walk through. And at its center there was a cube, small enough to fit in Jazz's hand, glowing a sickly violet-white, standing on a pedestal with a nest of wires coming out of it and leading to the various computers.

::You guys might want ta get over here. I think I found something.:: He sent to the others before carefully walking into the ring of monitors.

Jazz spared a glance at the different monitors, but wasn't sure what they were displaying. Hot Spot would have to translate for them when he got here. But the thing that most interested him was the glowing cube on the pedestal.

He leaned in closer, his visor making it easier to look at the thing despite the bright light it was giving off.

When he was only a few inches away, a shock of purple electricity snapped at him, like a hell-hound on guard duty.

Jazz leaned back just as Brawn walked into the ring of monitors. "What the heck's that?" He grumbled, eyeing the cube suspiciously.

Jazz put some distance between him and the cube. "Definitely some sorta dark energon device." He took a healthy guess given the color and the snap. "But I'm not sure what it's doin' down here."

Brawn grunted before turning his back on the cube in favor of the monitors it was hooked into. "Well I don't need Spot to know this is some kind of map." He said, pointing at the monitor right behind him.

Jazz stepped over and frowned at the map. "Yeah..." he muttered, frowning at the map on the display. "You're right. This is a map of the Wastelands." He realized.

Brawn nodded, optics finding the familiar landmarks that had been left behind by whatever force of nature that had turned that patch of Cybertron into an energy desert. He jerked his chin at the only thing that didn't belong there. "What's that dot for then?"

Jazz focused on the glowing purple dot set well within the Wastelands' borders, on the close side of Decepticon territory. "Don't know." He admitted. "Supply depot or energon reserves would be my guess."

Jazz looked over to see Brawn looking up at him with the same thoughtful frown on his grim face. He knew they were thinking the same thing.

"Well they already know we're here." Brawn muttered.

Jazz shrugged one shoulder. "True 'nuff."

He reached over and tapped the dot with a digit. A good part of him expected an alarm to go off at the contact, but the only noise that appeared was a tiny beep as the computer recognized the command and zoomed in on the dot's location.

Jazz felt his optics widen behind his visor. Brawn was a bit more verbal with his opinion.

"Plasma energy chamber?!" He hissed. "Is that how they poisoned all the reservoirs so quick?" He muttered another handful of abrasive curses.

"Looks like," Jazz mumbled, turning half around to look at the cube behind them again.

Brawn fell quiet after his sudden swear-storm. "You think if we disconnect it, the energon will go back to normal?" He asked quietly.

Jazz looked between the chamber and the screen again. "Probably not," he muttered back, "but we sure can't leave that thing here. Looks like they're using it as some kind of power source for whatever they've got out in the wastes. Hot Spot-" he opened a line to the younger mech, "we got a job for you over here. Where are you?"

The blue mech didn't respond right away, which struck both Jazz and Brawn as a little odd. But then a hush of static appeared over the line.

"Guys, I found something...weird."

Jazz raised an optic ridge. "We're kinda standin' in the middle of weird central Hot Spot. Care to be a _little_ more specific?"

They could practically hear the other mech shaking his head. "I don't know where to even start." He told them. "You gotta see this for yourselves."

Jazz's optics slid to the plasma energy chamber automatically. _"Well it's not like it's goin' anywhere." _He told himself before gesturing for Brawn to stay here with the chamber. The smaller bot nodded and gripped his service weapon with both hands as Jazz left the ring of computers.

"Not even a hint?" He asked Hot Spot, half kidding.

Again with that hesitation. "...you know how Brawn was saying Megatron kept prisoners down here?"

...

"Well," Jazz said when he finally caught up with Hot Spot in the central aisle, "this is unexpected."

Hot Spot just nodded, face clearly concerned. In front of them, locked in an older version of the cryo-stasis chamber, was a mech. It was difficult to see past the color of the green fluid inside – keeping the mech unconscious but online – but Hot Spot thought he was largely medium blue, darker than his own color and without the black accents.

"Who is he?" He asked Jazz.

It was hard to tell the older mech's expression with that visor, but his mouth was turned down at the corner in what Hot Spot thought was recognition. "His name's Skids. He's some kind of theoretician. Disappeared from Vos a few stellar cycles before the war officially got started. I looked into it for a little while."

Hot Spot felt his optic ridges rise in surprise. "You were a law bot?" He asked, unable to picture the carefree, downright troublesome mech as one of Cybertron's finest. Although now that he thought about it, it _would _explain how he could put up with Prowl for long periods of time.

Jazz snorted a laugh. "Nah, as a cultural investigator. Ya know," he gestured wide with his arms, "information for the masses. At least as much as the high council censors would let us print."

Brawn grunted over the comm. line Jazz had kept open for his benefit. "You were a news bot. I shoulda known." He mumbled.

Hot Spot found himself nodding slightly. Yup, that made sense too. "So what d'ya find?" He asked eagerly. Cultural investigators were some of the rare bots that could get passes to move between the city-state borders back before the caste system had imploded into civil war. To an Iacon sparked and raised bot like him, it had always struck Hot Spot as a very exciting lifestyle.

Jazz shrugged. "Not much. He was in Vos like I said, for some kind of scientific conference or project, no one was really sure. They only noticed he was gone when he didn't show up for his regularly scheduled work three orns later. By then the trail had gone cold and the officials couldn't find any fresh leads." He shrugged sadly. "So they wrote him off."

Brawn and Hot Spot waited expectantly but Jazz didn't do anything except stare up at Skids imprisoned in his see-through case.

Eventually Hot Spot just had to prompt him, "But..."

Jazz vented a sigh and rubbed at his optics under his visor. "But," he admitted, "I found out he was supposed to be meetin' someone the day he disappeared. I tracked the mech down and talked to him. He didn't know much about Skids either – didn't even know his real name I think – but what little he _did_ know made it sound like he was in deep, whatever he was workin' on. Which made me think his disappearance was officially sanctioned by some mech high up in the system."

That got their attention. "A high council member?" Hot Spot asked eagerly. "Or one of the senate?"

"Another high-up scientist that wanted him out of the way?" Brawn added just as eagerly.

Jazz raised an optic ridge at them. "Well ain't you two a gruesome twosome? I didn't know you had it in ya Brawn."

Brawn's huff was almost loss in a cascade of static as one of the shelved items interfered with his comm. Hot Spot could just see the shorter mech now, arms crossed over his stout chest, stubbornly wiping the curiosity off his faceplates and replacing it with a scowl.

Hot Spot looked up at the mech in the cylinder again. He didn't look like much, certainly not someone one of the senate – much less someone on the high council itself – would want to personally get out of the way.

"So who was the mech he was supposed to be meeting?" Hot Spot asked, more out of idle curiosity than anything.

Jazz actually grinned at that, though with that visor Hot Spot couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. "Ah c'mon man. A good n'proper news bot doesn't just go givin' away his sources, now does he?"

Hot Spot frowned up at the cylindrical tank and its unconscious inhabitant with obvious disappointment. Clearly Jazz wouldn't be spilling his guts today. "Apparently not." He muttered.

Jazz slowly walked around the tank, mindful of the control boxes. Hot Spot watched him a moment, waiting for some kind of instruction. But when Jazz finished his circle and none came he asked, "So how do we get him out?"

Jazz looked up at the unconscious Skids and vented a sigh. "We don't." He told the younger bot, and then pointed at the black boxes on the right side of the tank before Hot Spot could protest. "Whoever put him in there sure wants him to stay in there. They've hooked the release directly into some kind of security feed. There's no telling what will spring if we let him out."

Hot Spot frowned at Jazz. "Well I can bypass_ that_." He insisted, leaning down in front of the particular control box and prying the plate away from the internal wires. It popped off easily.

"No wait-!" But Jazz's shout registered too late.

The yellow light of the Vault's overheads suddenly turned red. Both mechs looked up as a brass alarm abruptly filled the room.

"They like to booby trap these dang things!" Jazz shouted at a wide-optic Hot Spot.

A blast shield encompassed Skid's cryo-tank before Hot Spot had a chance to say anything. The young mech had to leap back as the floor beneath him moved, and the tank – Skids, boxes, and all – disappeared into the floor.

"Where'd he go?!" Hot Spot yelled above the continuing noise of the Vault alarm.

Jazz grabbed the young bot by the scruff and hauled him away from the hole where Skids had disappeared. "Somewhere safer than here I bet!" He shouted as he shoved Hot Spot towards the door and started shouting at Brawn to do the same.

They made it just in time to see the Vault door seal itself shut.

"Scrap!" Someone shouted right before Brawn whirled on Hot Spot and hollered, "What did you touch?!"

_"Mandatory acid cleansing in five cycles. All personnel report to your assigned stasis pods." _ A voice suddenly announced pleasantly from the ceiling.

"Oh come one!" Brawn shouted at the voice. "They couldn't just blow us up and get it over with?!"

Jazz's processor was too busy racing to answer. Protective containers were starting to come up from the floor to enclose the Vault's artifacts so they wouldn't be cleansed out of existence like they were. Maybe they could squeeze into one of those before the acid started to do its work...

Movement next to him caught Jazz's optic. "Spot what're you doing?!" He demanded, but the younger mech had already disappeared down the aisle they'd just come down.

"Where is it?!" He shouted at himself as he ran down the central aisle, head whipping back and forth for the one item that might just keep them from being disintegrated to death. "Come on! I just saw it! AHA!"

He grabbed the innocent looking suitcase off the rack before its protective chamber could seal it off. His fingers scrabbled around the edge, trying to find the release.

A hand on his shoulder yanked him back before he found it. "What the Pit are you doing?!" Jazz yelled at him, angrier than Hot Spot had ever seen him.

He held up the yellow suitcase. "It's Brainstorm's!" He shouted, hoping they understood.

From the way their optic ridges suddenly disappeared into their helms, Hot Spot figured they did. "Well open it kid!" Brawn demanded, optics watching the ceiling as spray nozzles began to appear above them.

Hot Spot was still prying at the seam in the case. "I can't!"

Brawn yanked it out of his hands with a growl that went unheard because of the claxons. Hot Spot nearly jumped out of his armor when the surly mech shot at the suitcase, blasts bouncing off its surface like rubber bullets.

"Slaggin' idiot-!" But the rest of Brawn's insults were lost as a miniature version of Brainstorm suddenly appeared from a hologram projector set in the suitcase's lid.

"Dear thieving scum wad," the hologram Brainstorm addressed them with an admonishing wave of his finger, "you should know that you are in possession of my greatest weaponized achievement to date: the Unmentionable. And if you insist on keeping it, I will hunt you down with no mercy."

The three Autobots just stared at the hologram. "Dude is un_hinged_." Jazz griped.

"I heard that." The hologram said, making them all want to take a large step away from the creepy recording. "However if you are an Autobot in _legal _possession of my magnum opus, then state the password now-"

"What password?!" Hot Spot shouted in panic.

"-and if this is you Percy, well than _ppbbbbttt-" _he blew an alarmingly childish raspberry at them, "good luck figuring out how I did it you idolized, outdated professor!"

The hologram winked out of existence, leaving three highly unnerved bots behind.

"What the Pit is wrong with you?!" Brawn shouted at the suitcase and kicked it, since the real Brainstorm wasn't close enough to lash out at.

The hologram reappeared, wagging its finger. "Now, now," it said, "that's not the password."

"Open up before we die!" Brawn ordered it uselessly.

More finger wagging. "Now, now," it repeated, "that's not the password."

"You're, uh, brilliant!" Hot Spot tried frantically.

"Now, now. That's not the password."

"Perceptor is an idiot!" Jazz tried, seeing Hot Spot's line of thought.

"Now, now. That's not the password."

"I'm going to kick your aft you egotistical fragger!" Brawn yelled.

"Well there's no need to be rude." Mini-Brainstorm chided.

A disturbing _hiss_ was starting to come from the nozzles over their heads, like liquid coming at them at an alarming rate.

"Oh man-"

"Um-"

"Slag, slag, slag-!" Brawn muttered under his breath as he watched the ceiling.

Drops of acid were starting to drip out of the ceiling, with more on the way, when Hot Spot shouted in total panic, _"Brainstorm is a slaggin' genius!"_

The mini-Brainstorm smiled wide. "Why thank you." He said cheerily and then disappeared entirely.

"Oh slag..." Hot Spot muttered, looking up with wide optics at the ceiling.

_Snap-hiss!_ The acid started to rain down above their heads.

Just as the suitcase popped open and the Unmentionable flew out-

...

_ACTIVATE PROGRAM: BRAINSTORM'S UNIVERSE_

_1000101001110010100101001010101010010101001010100010100111001__010__0101001011__01010101001010100101010101__0100100100010__10011100101_

__01__0101001010100101010101010010010__01__0101001010100101010101010010010_01__01010010101001010101010100100101 SUBPROGRAM: FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD_

_10100__100100010100111001010010100101010101001010100101010_10010101010101001001010100010101011110101011110001_101__01 00100100010_

_1001110010100101001010101010010 NO LONGER AN ELEPHANT 101001010101010__10010_10010101010101001001010100010101011110101011110001__

_01000101001110011 FROM A NON-LINNEAR, NON-SUBJECTIVE VIEWPOINT 01001010010101_010100101010010101010101001001 00010100111001010010100__

_010100101010010101010101001001 000101001110010100101001 YOU AND YOU'RE LITTLE __DOG TOO SUBROUTINE ONLINE 01010101001010100101010101 IT'S MORE LIKE A BIG BALL OF_

_100101001001000101001 WIBBLY WOBBLY ACTIVATED 110010100101001010101 01001010_010100101010010101010101001001 00010100111001010010100__

_10010101010101_1001010101010100100101010001010101111010_0010010101000101010111101010111100011 TIMEY WIMEY SUSPENDED-_

_ERROR 43015: REALITY MAXED OUT_

_100010100111001010010100101010 __TIMEY WIMEY-_

_1010010101001010101 __TIMEY WIMEY-_

_1010010101001010101 __TIMEY WIMEY-_

_ERROR 43016: PROGRAM MUST HALT_

_100010100111001010010100101010 TIMEY WIMEY-_

_1010010101001010101 TIMEY WIMEY-_

_1010010101001010101 TIMEY WIMEY-_

_ERROR 1: PROGRAM SHUT DOWN IN 3-2-1-_

...

The suitcase snapped shut with a resounding click.

It was the first thing Hot Spot heard apart from the static of his audios rebooting. He tried to unshutter his optics – only to realize they were already open but not online – before he realized that for some reason, his whole system had just rebooted itself.

The next thing he realized was that it was unnaturally quiet. It took his sluggish processor a moment to think of why, but eventually he realized that the alarms had stopped.

"Ugh..." he groaned, lifting his head to see what had happened. Unfortunately all he could make out were the sharp corners of the storage containers protecting the Vault artifacts from the acid cleaner.

Which, amazingly, was nowhere to be seen.

"'Lo?" Hot Spot tried to speak. Then he cleared his vocal processor of static and tried again. "Hey guys, you out there still?"

Two distinct groans answered him. "I think so." Came Jazz's rough voice. "It wouldn't hurt this much if we were dead right?"

"I don't think so." Hot Spot answered before sucking up his courage and quickly shoving himself into a sitting position.

"By the AllSpark..." he groaned as his sensors registered a wave of pain at the motion. For awhile it was all he could do to sit there with his head in his hands.

"How long have we been out of it?" Brawn asked somewhere to his left.

Hot Spot checked his internal chronometer, but it was Jazz who said the astounding answer out loud. "Bout ten cycles."

Hot Spot groaned again. "Feels like longer." He grumbled before dropping his hands and blinking in the harsh, white light. "Why does everything hurt?" He whined.

"Don't know." Jazz admitted. "You know what just happened Brawn? Cuz we sure as Pit don't."

"No," Brawn grumbled, "but I know what's _going _to happen. I'm going to beat that smart-aft Brainstorm black and blue. _That's _what's going to happen sometime in the near immediate future." He bit out as he got to his feet with a loud groan.

Hot Spot dared to follow suit. He felt like he'd just taken a trip through an industrial trash compactor, but when he looked down, nothing was damaged. Not even a dent from when he'd fallen to the ground.

"Yeah, well, you might want to hold off on that Brawn," Jazz told him, standing as well and wobbling only slightly on his feet. "That smart-aft probably just saved your hide." There was a slight pause as he blinked at something on the ground. "Hey look! My other grapplin' hook!"

He groaned again as he foolishly bent down to pick up the hook. Hot Spot stared. "I am almost _positive _that wasn't here before the Unmentionable was...unleashed." He mumbled, for lack of a better word.

Brawn just snorted as Jazz reattached the tool to his frame. "I'm still gonna smack him one when I see his face again." He grumbled under his breath.

Hot Spot was still struggling with what had just happened. "So," he panted, leaning on a nearby rack of artifacts, "let me see if I got this. We released the Unmentionable and, sometime in the last ten cycles, all went into forced reboot, and just now woke up _not_ dead. Is that about right?"

Brawn gave an affirming grunt, not up to speaking for long periods of time, but Jazz was looking up at the ceiling. "You forgot how all the acid nozzles were rusted shut in those same ten cycles."

Hot Spot followed the Autobot's pointing digit and blinked in surprise when he saw that they weren't just rusted shut, they were almost rusted beyond recognition. If he hadn't already known the flaky, red stumps in the ceiling were supposed to be nozzles, he sure wouldn't have been able to tell now.

Jazz gave a rare growl as he held his head. "For Primus' sake someone grab that blasted suitcase." He snapped. "Last thing we need is the Decepticons figuring out that Brainstorm's egomania is his _password_."

Hot Spot shuffled forward and, joints hissing as he did, leaned down and grabbed Brainstorm's suitcase. It was heavier than it looked, but otherwise it looked like any other suitcase that had had the misfortune of being purchased by a mad weapons designer.

Privately Hot Spot wondered if maybe he shouldn't chuck it in a deep, _deep _ditch on the way back to Iacon...

He looked back down at the other two. "Can we get out of here now?" He asked, trying not to whine.

Jazz's balance gyros tilted unexpectedly and he caught himself on a nearby shelf. "Sounds good to me." He muttered. "Let's grab the plasma energy chamber and get out of here. While we do that, you give the computers a once over to make sure we didn't miss anything, alright Hot Spot?"

Hot Spot nodded, and immediately regretted it as the room spun unnaturally.

"Right," Jazz mumbled as he shoved himself away from his support and walked in a zigzag line towards the ring of computers, "I'll radio Prime while we're at it. He needs to know what's going on out in the Wastes."


	40. Chapter 40: The Last Stand

More action, more excitement! I hope you're all ready for this because here we go!

Thank you so much Littlebirdd, Bee4ever, Jimmy 144, Gaia Kame, KayleeChiara, L.M.L., and gingeemig for your wonderful reviews! I got three all in one day yesterday and I was oh so happy! :)

And L.M.L. brought up a good point; yes there are TWO different Skids in this story. There's Green Skids - Mudflap's twin brother and one of the seven younglings Aria raised and who most of you recognize as that annoying one in ROTF - and then there's Blue Skids - the guy trapped in the Vault that disappeared before the war. They're not the same guy and it _is _confusing that they have the same name, but they're both canon characters so I didn't want to mess with a rename. Blue Skids is actually from G1 (somewhere...I've never actually seen him in the cartoons, so I'm guessing comics?) but my _favorite_ iteration of him is in James Roberts' MTMTE. That's who I'm basing my Blue Skids' personality off of. He's an amnesiac super-learning genius. How fun is that? :D_  
><em>

Anyway, super excited to continue! I finished off chapter 48 yesterday so I only have two chapters left to write before I am officially done! Woohoo! You guys are gonna love it! I hope...

n_n Enjoy!

...

The Long Road Home

40 – The Last Stand – 40

Prime and the others were halfway to Altihex when Jazz's call came through.

::Understood Jazz. We'll look into it.:: Prime sent back before the line closed with a click that he heard even over the noise of his alt-mode roaring across the desert landscape towards one of the Decepticons longest held strongholds.

He immediately opened a new channel with the two bots on either side of him. "Jazz found the plasma energy chamber in Megatron's Vault." He told them gravely. "From what they were able to tell, Megatron was using it to send massive amounts of dark energon to power something in the Wastelands. I have the coordinates. It's possible that Megatron hid the dark energon lens out there as well. I'm going to check it out. This is only a hunch so Ultra Magnus, Elita, you two continue on to Altihex in case I'm wrong."

Ultra Magnus sent back a smart affirmative, but Elita protested. "If you're right and the dark lens is out there, then you're going to need all the help you can get. Megatron won't have left it unguarded." She pointed out.

"And if I'm wrong then only half our forces will be facing the bulk of Megatron's army." Optimus argued back. "Either way we don't have time to argue." He pointed out.

"Then stop arguing." She told him before he heard the added white noise as she added another channel. "Arcee, you, Moonracer, and Firestar go with Magnus. If this doesn't check out, Chromia and I will meet you there."

Arcee clicked an okay before closing the line and relaying the orders to the other femmes in the group. Optimus watched from his rear view as the three of them decelerated before sliding over to join the group of well armed, swift car modes strung out behind their commander.

Resigned, Optimus told Ultra Magnus, "We'll tell you if we find anything."

"Understood." Ultra Magnus sent back smartly. "Wreckers, with me." He called over a different line before gunning the throttle and disappearing across the dry landscape in a cloud of dust. The Wreckers and the three femmes followed suit, hollering victory cheers and friendly jibes as they roared across the empty landscape.

Optimus watched them go. Like himself, Magnus' alt mode was broad and strongly built, but even more so. Added weapons ran down either side of his blue and red alt mode as well as added armor plating to reinforce natural weak points. Optimus had adopted his truck alt-mode at the insistence of their former guardian – a guardsmech known only as Magnum – but Ultra Magnus had taken one out of necessity. Assigned to the military castes when he was young, he'd gladly undergone the retrofitting process so he could excel in his caste.

Optimus hadn't been surprised. Magnus had always wanted to follow in their guardian's footsteps. He was one of the few bots he'd ever met that had been truly excited about being assigned his caste. He'd even taken on a new designation when he become commander of the Wreckers some vorns before Megatron had risen to power and Orion Pax had become Optimus Prime.

Prime allowed himself a chuckle. Aria like to tease his brother that he was built like a truck, but Ultra Magnus never got the joke. Usually he just stared at her and blinked before going back to whatever he'd been talking about a moment before.

The seriousness of the situation came back to him and he looked to see who was left with them now that their numbers had been reduced by more than half. Ironhide's black alt mode was rolling some feet behind him, Chromia's smaller frame nearby. Tracks was off to the side, watching the periphery, with Hound doing the same on the other side. The oldest femme, Beta, was near the back of the group, Aria's small form just barely visible through her dirt caked windows. Somewhere above them, Optimus knew Nathanial was shadowing them on Peg, whose peculiar techno-organic makeup didn't register on any Decepticon sensor arrays that might be watching the air space.

A burst of static interrupted his focus. "What do you think's out there?" Aria asked over Beta's line, her voice coming through less clear than the femme's would have. "New super weapon?"

"That sure sounds like Megatron." Chromia muttered.

"I don't know." Prime told them. "But we need to make sure it can't keep the neutrals from getting through the bridge."

There was a moment of affirming silence that Aria thought would have been full of head nods if any of them had had heads at the moment.

Finally Ironhide asked. "Where in the Wastes are they exactly?"

Prime's voice was grim when he answered. "The Mitteous Plateau."

...

"Well," Ironhide muttered when they finally found Megatron's secret stash, "looks like the Decepticons had the same idea we did."

Optimus Prime nodded, stern optics never leaving the scene in front of him. Several miles before them, the angular nose of a massive warship was poking out of the fragile ground of the Mitteous Plateau. A relic from a bygone age when Cybertron had been the center of a grand empire, the warship was a feat of engineering and construction that no one currently living could hope to repeat (although Prime was sure Grapple would give his kibble just to try). How Megatron had gotten a hold of it or where it had been hiding for the past millennia, Optimus had no idea, but found it Megatron had and Prime knew, core-deep, that it was going to cause them more than just a minor headache.

"Looks like most of it's still underground." Ironhide observed. "You think the thing can fly?"

"I don't know." Optimus said slowly. Finally he tore his gaze away and turned towards the dark green femme behind him. "Can you tell Beta?"

The oldest femme still online narrowed her optics at what little they could see of the ship. She'd dealt only a little with ships from before Sentinel Prime's time, but it was more than any of the others there knew. "It depends," she answered carefully, "the ship is old enough that _something_ important must have degraded over the stellar cycles, but I'd have to get a look inside to know for certain." She tapped her chin in thought, a peculiar grinding sound coming from her vocorder as she contemplated the buried ship with narrowed optics. "But I'd say that our best chance of keeping the thing grounded would be if Jazz pulled the plasma energy chamber before they could finish fueling the ship."

"And if he didn't?" Elita asked softly, features set in grim determination.

Beta pointed at where the back of the ship should be, hidden beneath the plateau. "Then we should drain the fuel cells. They're located at the back of the ship, underneath the life support systems."

"Alright," Prime said, "Beta, take Hound and Tracks and drain the fuel cells. The rest of us will search for the dark energon lens and will try and disable the ship's systems."

Various nods answered him. "How do we get in?" Tracks asked as he loaded his gun with an ease that came from longs years of practice.

Optimus looked at him before letting his optics turn to the others. "The Mitteous Plateau is the most unstable landscape on Cybertron. It's riddled with tunnels that are just under the surface, making it easy to fall through. We'll use those and approach from below. Hound, find us a way through."

The tracker nodded and drew up the few maps there were of the Mitteous tunnels.

As the former military mech searched for the best way through the plateau, Optimus turned back to the makeshift shipyard in front of them. They were still several miles away since there was no closer cover to hide them from the Decepticon guards wandering the perimeter of the sharply angled ship. Vehicons roamed the area around their new warship, like ants, as they continued bringing the ship back to operational status.

Off to the side, a wave of anxious movement suddenly swept through the Vehicons, spreading outward like a ripple on a pond and catching Optimus' optic. He looked up, wondering what had startled the Decepticons.

A dark indigo figure, just barely distinguishable from the generic black and purple Vehicons, appeared, walking steadily through them, turning his head occasionally but otherwise making no gestures.

"Elita," Optimus murmured, catching his mate's attention. The femme turned and followed his head tilt to see what he was indicating.

Her faceplates darkened. "Shockwave's here." She muttered.

"Look what he's got in his hand." Chromia spoke up, handing over the magnifying lenses she'd been scouting the Decepticon shipyard with.

Elita took them and pressed them to her optics, and then pulled away as she caught sight of whatever it was Chromia had seen. Optimus waited while she looked again, wondering what it was, but already having a good idea.

Elita finally lowered the lenses and handed them over to Optimus with a grim expression. "I guess it's a good thing we came after all." She told him.

That sealed it, Optimus thought as he raised the lenses, already knowing what he would see. The ant-sized Decepticons suddenly jumped in size as he steadied the magnification lenses against his optics. He turned slightly, searching for Shockwave, and overshot the Decepticon scientist before he finally adjusted to the magnification level.

He found the indigo mech again and focused in on his hands. There, held at his side in a clear isolation case, dark purple sparks seething around it as Shockwave walked, was the dark energon lens. Optimus noticed that the Vehicons were giving the case a wide berth.

He lowered the binoculars when Shockwave and the lens disappeared into the ship, but didn't turn away from the Decepticon site in front of him. "Comm. Magnus," he instructed Ironhide next to him. "Tell him we've found the lens and that he's to continue with the distraction at Altihex when the ships take off. We'll take care of the lens."

Ironhide nodded and raised a digit to his audio to relay the message.

"Prime!" Hound called out. "I think I've found a way through."

Optimus came over and a hologram of the plateau's recorded tunnels sprang up at their feet, a path highlighted through their tangled recesses. "According to Beta's data on the ship, this should lead us to an access hatch in the ship's underbelly, near the storage areas. From there, we'll head aft to the fuel cells."

"From the storage area, the rest of you should head up." Beta stepped in, voice rasping out of her aged vocorder. "Unless they've modified the ship – which I doubt since they haven't even had time to make it vacuum sealed – then the science labs should be on level twenty."

Optimus took in the information. "Is there any place other than the labs that Shockwave might take the lens? Perhaps some place he can use it to power the ship directly?"

Beta frowned in thought. "If they _have_ modified the ship's systems to accept energy like that," she said slowly, "then the easiest place to plug it in would be the command deck." She pointed at the portion of the ship they could see spearing out of the plateau. "There. Level seventeen. Three decks above the science labs, but well forward."

Optimus followed her pointing digit and nodded. "Very well," he murmured.

He turned around, ready to give the order to roll out, but stopped when he saw that everyone was watching him. An uncomfortable feeling suddenly swept over Optimus' back and shoulders. It wouldn't be until a few vorns had passed that he would be able to identify the discomfort as knowing that everyone was waiting for him to say something grand and inspiring.

He didn't have anything to say that sounded grand in his mind, and he knew if he actively tried to inspire them it would only come off as a string of clichés. So he told them the truth.

"I don't know what you expect me to say," he told them, "or what you need to hear. It is true that this is our darkest hour. Cybertron is dying. Megatron has more troops, more energon, and, as he's proved already, the willingness to use both against us no matter how great his losses are in the end. Our single remaining hope is to leave and trust that there is enough energon somewhere in the galaxy to keep us going until Cybertron is habitable again."

His gaze flicked to each one of the bots and organics watching him. "I know it's more than any one spark can bear. We have already lost so much, so many that haven't lived to see Cybertron fall. And if Megatron catches up with the neutrals trying to evacuate, then they will not live to see Cybertron restored.

"But I can't do it alone." He told them. "And while I know I have no right to ask this of you, I hope that you will help me in this. At least once more."

He paused, and as the others watched, they saw his hands curl into fists and his optics burn brighter, like blue fire. "And if this is to be our last stand," he intoned gravely, turning those twin, blue fires on them, "then I say let's make it one worth remembering."

Sparks swelled with hope and determination at his words. Watching him from her lower vantage point, Aria pulled in a deep breath. Pride didn't even begin to cover what she felt for her longest friend. She felt her mouth try and smile as she suddenly remembered what he had been like before; the sheltered librarian who'd only understood freedom like it appeared in his books. And now look at him. A true Prime, wise, whose strength was only matched by his compassion, and the best defender she had – or would – ever known. And while she could still hear the echoes of Orion Pax in his words, Aria had no doubt it was the Prime that spoke.

The organic femme looked up, suddenly noticing the feeling that someone was watching her.

Hound was grinning somewhat sadly down at her. "Once more into the breach," he murmured down to her.

A faint smile tugged at the organic femme's mouth. "Yeah," she mumbled, "something like that."

Optimus didn't understand their small exchange, but he found they were good words anyway. _"Yes," _he thought as they located the way in to the tunnels that riddled the Mitteous Plateau, _"yes that about covers it. Once more into the breach."_

...

The inside of the Decepticon warship was dank and dusty, smelling of age and the kind of long-lostness that Aria equated with sunken pirate ships and buried dinosaur bones.

"How long do you think this thing has been down here?" She whispered to Optimus a few steps ahead.

"Beta said this is a defense-class ship," the red and blue mech whispered back, optics watching the darkened corridor they were walking down, "which means it was built shortly after the Quintessons were evicted from Cybertron. Sentinel Prime ordered them made so that we could defend against any alien threats. Assuming it didn't crash – I haven't seen that kind of damage yet – then it was decommissioned when the high council decided the defense fleet was a drain on resources. That was a couple hundred vorns ago, well before my time."

Aria blinked up at him, and then turned towards Elita walking behind her. "So how long?" She whispered again.

In the dim light Aria saw a hint of amusement appear in the femme's bright blue optics. "A long, long time." She simplified her mate's answer. "Probably since early in Sentinel's tenure as Prime."

Aria nodded in understanding. "Ah."

The four of them walked a few cycles in silence, watching for any stray Vehicons that might be working in this sector of the ship. They were still some ways out from the command deck, but the closer they got, the more likely they were to run into someone.

"Why dig it up now though? I mean," Aria added quickly, anticipating the obvious answer, "yes, of course it makes for a handy getaway off Cybertron, but why not use it sooner? Not to get away, but to rain down destruction on us and all that?" She'd seen the ion cannons mounted on the outside of the ship. It certainly had the capability to rain down all sorts of destruction on the Autobots. Megatron could have turned Iacon to dust and rubble before they even knew what was happening. So why hadn't he?

"It's possible they didn't know it was here before now." Elita answered softly in the dark as she watched the way they'd come for interlopers.

"I doubt it," Optimus spoke up again, "I remember hearing the rumors that they stored the defense fleet out in the Wastelands back when I worked in the Hall of Records. I have no doubt Megatron knew the rumors as well. And given how much they've excavated the ship, they've been working on it for some time."

Aria frowned. "That makes even less sense then." She muttered. "It's not like Megatron to hold back when he has a clear advantage."

A few feet to her right, Nathanial shrugged one shoulder in the dark. "Maybe they didn't find the proper fuel until recently. We thought all the ship fuel was gone until that storehouse in the Hydrax Plateau was discovered. Maybe he found another one." He suggested.

"Or perhaps Shockwave has been too busy with dark energon to get the ship back in working order." Elita put in.

Aria frowned and bit her lip, resettling sweaty palms on the grip of her small pistol. It wasn't much compared to the bots' built in defensive hardware, but it was better than nothing. "I guess..." she mumbled.

"No matter what the cause," Optimus added a few cycles later, "I'm just glad they haven't finished getting it out of the ground."

Aria gave a sharp nod at that to no one in particular. _"Thank God for small miracles I guess."_ She thought to herself.

It wasn't long until they came to a crossways in the corridors. Unlike the way they had come from, the crossways was well lit, although the overheads tended to flicker every cycle or so. The Vehicon patrol that was currently milling in the intersection didn't appear to notice though.

::The command deck should be just up ahead.:: Optimus signaled Elita, signing the same information so Aria and Nat could understand as well. ::Looks like that's where most of the Decepticon activity is.::

::We should find another way to the bridge.:: Elita murmured back.

As she watched the Vehicons chatting up ahead, Aria agreed. But if the lens really was in the command center, then how were they supposed to get it now?

Motion next to her caught her attention and she looked over to see Nathanial pointing up at the ceiling above them. Aria followed his finger and saw a hatchway hidden in the dark recess of the half functioning ship.

The bots saw it too. ::Maintenance hatch.:: Optimus told them. ::Leads to a crawl space that runs between decks.::

Down at their feet, Aria found herself grinning suddenly. _"Why yes, that'll do quite nicely." _She thought.

Elita must've had the same thought because she knelt down and found the access panel for the hatch laid out of the way near the floor. Taking a cable from her subspace, she hooked one end into the seam of her wrist and the other into the panel. It took a few moments, but the former language femme soon had the hatch open.

::Tell Chromia our current status.:: Optimus told Elita as she recovered the panel and bundled up the cord back into her subspace pocket.

The rose red femme nodded. As bonded sisters, it was easier and safer for them to communicate across their bond than for the others to talk over comm. channels or even pulse waves.

_"Chromia?" _Elita sent as she knelt down and held out a hand for Aria to climb on to. She waited for a response as she settled her organic sister on her shoulder guard, Optimus doing the same with Nathanial, before starting the climb towards the hatchway. _"Can you hear me?"_

...

Three levels down, Chromia nodded automatically as she registered her sister's ethereal 'voice'.

_"Yeah," _she sent back, _"we're just now approaching the science labs. Where are you?"_

Just in front of her, Ironhide glanced back at his mate, recognizing her inward drawn expression. He stopped in the dark of the hallway, waiting for Chromia to finish talking with Elita-One. So far they hadn't seen any Decepticons and it was making him uneasy.

He rolled his wrist again, itching to let his cannons power up. But if any other bots were around, the light and noise would give them away. He'd just have to be ready for when they finally did show their ugly faceplates.

Out of the corner of his optic, he saw Chromia nod again. ::They've found a way to the command deck.:: She told him, becoming aware of her surroundings again. ::Looks like that's where most of the Decepticons are at the moment.::

Ironhide snorted softly. ::Figures.:: He grumbled back. ::Big, bad Decepticon warship and they leave everything but command unguarded and vulnerable.::

Chromia smiled wolfishly at him in the dim light. ::You're just jealous cause they're going to have all the fun.::

Ironhide snorted again, optics checking the corridor in front of them for Shockwave or any other Decepticons. Again, he came up empty.

He jerked his chin at the doors leading off of each side of the narrow corridor. ::So which one do we try first?:: He asked. He'd never spent much time in the science sectors of Praxus, so he wasn't sure what to look for. As an Iacon bot, Chromia might have a better idea seeing as Iacon had been one of the science capitals of Cybertron, second only to Crystal City.

The femme's hard blue optics flicked over each of the immediate doors. ::They all look the same to me.:: She finally said. ::I vote we just check 'em all. Doesn't look like anybot's down here.::

A thoughtful whirr came from the back of Ironhide's vocal processor. ::Doesn't mean we're alone down here though. We should walk soft.::

Chromia gave him that smile that reminded him of turbo-hounds again. ::Speak for yourself.:: She murmured, slowly walking up to the first door, her boots making no sound on the metal floor of the old ship.

She threw a sly smile at him over her shoulder before drawing her miniature cannon and aiming at the door. ::Well are we going to this or what?:: She asked him.

Ironhide huffed before the familiar whirr and whine of his own cannons charging up reached his audios. ::Cheeky femme.:: He said before slapping the door controls for the first lab.

...

Not all of the Decepticons were near the command deck.

Down in the part of the ship still buried in the plateau, Beta, Hound, and Tracks peered over the edge of a large piece of mining equipment the Decepticons were using to unbury the ship. They were still a few dozen feet away from the ship itself, and the only light this far down in the earth came from the high powered construction lights they'd brought in themselves.

::How many do you count?:: Tracks asked from Beta's side.

::About twenty or so.:: Hound answered, his special, military-grade night vision optic shutters glowing slightly in the semi-dark. The tracker nodded at the cylindrical tanks that were attached to the side of the ship in front of them. To Beta's older optics, they looked like the special balloons used in festivals when she'd been younger, but she doubted either of the mechs were old enough to remember those times.

The dark green femme vented a sigh. These young bots. When had it come to the point that they didn't even know Creation Day, the orbit dedicated to the memory of when the Thirteen had first awoken and began their race, or the Festival of Primus? Beta had been there during the long, slow slide into social stasis and not even _she _knew what the point of no return had been.

On her other side, Hound inclined his head at the tanks nuzzled against the ship's side. ::Is that them?:: He asked.

Beta put away the stray thoughts plaguing her processor. ::Yes.:: She confirmed. ::They'll be another set on the other side as well. We'll need to drain them all to make sure it's grounded.:: She opened her subspace and pulled out the two spigots she carried in her engineer's tool belt. ::Here, take one. Jam this end into the side of the tank and open the valve all the way to drain the fuel.::

She handed one to Tracks, keeping one for herself. ::Hound can you distract them long enough for us to drain the ship?::

From the grin that he gave her, Beta guessed that the answer was a resounding yes.

::Does a turbo-fox play with the glitch-mice before it eats 'em?:: He asked as two grenades dropped out of subspace into his waiting hands.

Beta didn't bother to answer him, just waved him on his way. When he had disappeared into the underground gloom, she turned towards Tracks. ::Get into position.:: She ordered.

The red and blue mech nodded once, face set, before darting in the other direction, sticking to the outskirts of the dark cavern so he could circle around the back of the ship unseen.

Beta waited for a gap to appear in the bustling Vehicons before ducking from her cover and jogging as swiftly as she dared to a crate that was closer to the ship. She disappeared behind it just as the closest Vehicon turned in her direction. The femme waited, listening hard to his footsteps as he came towards her hiding place.

The mech stopped right beside her crate. If Beta looked up just a little, she could see the glyphs reflected in his visor from the data pad he held in his hands. She tightened her grip on her gun, mentally preparing herself for if he happened to look down.

Before the Vehicon even had the chance to flick his sensory antenna, the background noise of deconstruction was overwhelmed by first one, then another, small explosion detonating farther down the main tunnel to the surface.

A full two kliks passed before the rush of fire and displaced air was forced out of the tunnel mouth and into the larger cavern. Vehicons shouted as they dove for cover, some more successfully than others.

Beta flattened her back against the crate behind her and shuttered her optics tight as a rush of boiling air flew past her on either side, sending the Vehicon next to her flying with a shriek.

The rush of air and fire died down as quickly as it had come, leaving Beta and a few fortunate others still functioning in the aftermath.

"Cave in!" Someone – who sounded suspiciously like Hound to Beta's audios – shouted near the tunnel entrance. "The support beams have collapsed again! They set off the construction charges!"

The Vehicons still kicking abandoned their posts and ran towards the collapsed entrance. They needed to get the tunnel cleared and the supports back up if they wanted to ever get out of here.

Beta waited until the Decepticons were sufficiently busy with removing the rubble before she left the shelter of the crate. She stole up to the side of the ship, its shadow throwing her into even deeper darkness. With a quick look around to make sure she was still alone, she pulled the spigot from her belt.

A scratching hum vibrated out of Beta's vocorder as a little uncomfortable pang shot through her digits. She made a face and stretched her digits to try and get rid of the discomfort.

_"Fraggin' arthritis." _She thought angrily.

Shoving down her irritation, she grabbed the spigot and jammed it harder than necessary into the fuel tank. With a sharp twist, she threw the nozzle open and stepped back to avoid the splash of fuel as it poured onto the ground.

But nothing came out.

With a frown, Beta made sure the valve was open, even though she already knew it was. Then when no fuel appeared – not even a puff of vapors – she yanked it from the tank and moved on to the next one, only to discover the same thing.

In mounting confusion, Beta tried all of the fuel tanks on the port side, but they were all dry.

"I don't understand." Beta mumbled in disbelief. "They're already empty. But then," she craned her neck to stare up at the running lights shining along the side of the ship, adding a general, but very dim, glow to the underground cavern, "what's powering the ship?"

...

Ironhide and Chromia finished checking the labs on the first corridor with no surprises. Most of the rooms were empty, although a few near the end had had equipment stationed on the counters, probably scraped together from various battered labs over in Crystal City.

It wasn't until they reached one of the inner corridors that they found the ship's actual power supply.

"Sweet Primus..."

Chromia would later liken it to walking into a human horror movie, when she knew what human horror movies were. The room was large, circular, well lit, and obviously a lab of some kind. Medical and scientific equipment took up space on all the counters, all of it clean and in some kind of order that neither Autobot understood. But all of the cleanliness only made it that much sicker.

"Are they still alive?" Chromia mumbled, optics finally leaving the horrific scene in front of her and finding the reassuring presence of Ironhide.

The large black mech couldn't look away yet. "Yeah." He muttered back. "I think so."

Five mechs were seated in a circle in the middle of the room, a large cylinder at their center. None of them had twitched when Ironhide and Chromia had entered the room and as they had gotten closer, the Autobots saw why.

Wide, gaping holes rent all five chests, ragged fissures that showed nothing but dark and lifeless space where their sparks should have been. They had been torn open methodically, like glitch-mice dissected by early medi-bot students, and from the way their mouths were still wide open from screaming, Chromia guessed they'd been awake for the procedure.

"Eugh..." the femme tried to swallow back her revulsion with limited success. Wires and cables had been patched into weak points at wrists, the inside of their elbows, and the main fuel line running along their necks, while some kind of thick cord was attached to the top of their spinal struts at the base of their heads.

Chromia's optic followed one of the cables patched into the closest mech's wrist. Thinner than her smallest digit, it ran along the floor, some kind of neon blue fluid that she couldn't identify running inside it, before it slithered up the side of the cylindrical tank in the center of their mutilated circle before ending in one of the control panel's access ports.

Inside the tank, swirling in some unseen current, the five missing sparks pulsed in time with each other. They flew in erratic circles around the inside of the tank, chasing each other like will o' the wisps, their constant motion combined with being removed from their spark casings making them malformed, oblong instead of spherical. They were immersed in the same mysterious blue fluid flowing between the prone mechs and the tank, and it transformed the sparks' natural white light to a watery kind of blue that painted the immediate area with its radiance.

Chromia felt her own spark stutter at the awful sight. "What-" she finally shuttered her optics and turned away from the gory spectacle, "what do we do with them? We can't just leave them like this."

Ironhide opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Beta's voice cut across both their audios, sounding as close to hysterical as Chromia had ever heard from the oldest femme.

_ "This is Beta. I'm down at the ship's fuel cells, but they're empty. Nothing's been in them for centuries. I don't know how they're powering the ship, but they must have an alternate fuel source somewhere onboard."_

Chromia and Ironhide shared a suddenly knowing look. Chromia felt her optic ridges lower as she raised a hand to her own comm. channel. "Yeah," she sent back, "about that..."

...

"They've _what?"_ Elita hissed in shock that was quickly replaced by horror.

Her sister's voice sounded tiny in her audio. _"Somehow Shockwave has hooked five different sparks together in a giant pertro-fish tank. I'm guessing that's what's powering the ship right now since there's no fuel, but I'm not sure how long it'll last. The sparks already look...deformed. Like ovals. And they're starting to bleed into each other too."_

Elita frowned. "Bleed into each other?" She murmured, sharing a look with Optimus in the crawl space behind her.

The large mech frowned, optic ridges furrowing. "Like they're becoming one spark?" He asked Chromia.

"Is that even possible?" Elita asked, feeling faintly sick. The only time that two sparks became one was when sparkmates merged. To have that forced on you after you'd been removed from your own body...

She shuddered at the idea. And when she looked up next and caught her mate's optics, she knew he felt the same.

It was Beta that answered. _"It shouldn't be."_ She said through the static-filled transmission. _"Shockwave may be using their raw energy to power the ship, but there's no way he can force them to...merge. However the faster they spin – they'll have to in order to generate more energy as their own essence fades – the faster they spin in that tank, the more it will look like they are coming together."_

"Is it safe to disconnect them?" Optimus asked gravely.

There was a gentle rush of static as the signal burrowed through layers of porous metal before finding Beta's team.

_"It should be..." _Beta said slowly, _"obviously I can't know everything without getting a proper look at what I'm dealing with-"_

"Then get a proper look." Optimus interrupted. "You three join Chromia and Ironhide on level seventeen. Disconnect their power source then get out of here. We'll meet you outside as soon as we check out the command deck."

Affirmation from both teams came back before Optimus and Elita closed their own comm. lines.

"There should be an intersection just up ahead," Elita told her mate as she lowered her hand from her audio, "if we go right it should put us directly above the bridge."

Optimus nodded as they resumed their half-crouched crawl towards the ship's command center. The hatchway had led them to a dusty crawl space that separated deck twenty from twenty-one above it.

They found the intersection right where Elita had said it would be, only...

"I guess Shockwave got around to making some of those modifications after all." Nathanial said quietly as he peered around the corner at Elita-One's feet.

Elita frowned, her mouth growing thin as she looked over what was left of the maintenance corridor. Large sections of plating had been removed, leaving open spaces that showed the regular hallway down below them. Wires that should have been hooked into the crawlspace wall panels hung down through the gaps where they had been attached to different, more modern machines that the Decepticons had brought onboard.

Elita's optics scoured the space below, but she didn't see any Decepticons. ::The bridge is just up ahead.:: She told Optimus, pointing at another hatchway that blocked their path ahead of them, on the other side of the gaping spaces in their walkway.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Optimus speaking quietly to Aria beneath him. The little femme nodded and then tilted her head at Nathanial nearby, signaling him to follow her.

There were planks stretched across the open spaces. They were skinny enough that the two Autobots would have had to keep up a careful balancing act to get across them, but the two humans had no trouble. They jogged across, the sound of their small steps lost in the whir of machinery down below.

They reached the other side easily and Nathanial gave Aria a leg up onto the ledge of the access hatch before she turned around and helped him up behind her. Elita watched anxiously as they set to work putting in the code to open the hatch. The minutes seemed to drag before they finally got the door open, but Elita knew it couldn't have taken as long as she thought.

She and Optimus had more trouble getting across the gangways, but they made it without incident. Weapons ready, they cleared the hatchway before going through.

They found themselves on a circular catwalk, with a wall on one side and open space on the other. There was a railing on their left to keep workers from falling over the edge, but if Elita rose from her defensive crouch she could just make out the lines of monitors down in the command deck below them. Shockwave's modifications must have cut into the power, because only the backup emergency lights were on, leaving plenty of heavy shadows for the Autobots to hide in.

A stifled gasp below her cut Elita's survey short and she looked down, half expecting to see the glowing red optics of a Vehicon maintenance bot staring up at them.

Fortunately she didn't see anyone through the grating of the catwalk. When she looked over at the humans though, she saw that Nathanial's face had gone pale in the stark light.

Elita-One followed his line of sight and stopped. The light she had mistaken as the emergency lights was actually coming from a glassy, violet lens. Shockwave had removed it from its isolation case and had put it in a repulsor field, probably to study it better. A single feed line attached to the repulsor's base and was busy feeding information from the disc directly into the ship's ancient brain.

Motion from her side made Elita turn just in time to see Optimus raise a hand to his audio. ::Autobots,:: he sent gravely, ::we've located the dark energon lens. Standby for orders.::

...

"So that's it huh?" Aria asked Nathanial softly, pitching her voice low so that it could hide under the background noise of the command deck beneath their feet.

Nathanial nodded, face taut. "Yeah." He whispered.

He didn't say anything else and Aria's eyes were dragged back to the lens where it hovered on the far side of the room. It didn't look like she had picture it, all oblong and shining. It reminded her of an overgrown contact lens, curving out at the center before tapering back down at the edges. If it hadn't been for the violet sparks popping around it like a fuzzy aura, that's exactly what she would have thought it was; a Decepticon sized contact lens.

"Don't stare at it too long." Nathanial suddenly told her as he stepped away from the edge of the catwalk. "It's caused some people to go blind before."

Aria immediately blinked and looked away. When she opened her eyes again, there was a faint, violet ring around the center of her vision like a discolored sunspot. "Now you tell me." She muttered, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hands.

The swish of a door opening and closing appeared while she was still adjusting her vision, immediately followed by the sound of heavy, repetitive footfalls.

She peered over her hands to see the top of Shockwave's antenna pass below her feet. The mech walked slowly to what was obviously 'his' station and Aria felt the hairs on the nape of her neck stand upright. Completely ignoring the handful of Vehicons that followed him onto the command deck, Shockwave tapped a string of glyphs into the ship's computer, making alien words and numbers appear on the seven or so monitors that ringed the monitor Shockwave was standing in front of.

Aria's eyes flicked over to Nathanial to find him staring back at her. She told herself to carefully walk away from the edge of the catwalk, but her feet wouldn't move. None of her moved and she remained frozen in place staring at the only other human there. Out of all the Decepticons on Cybertron, Shockwave was the one that scared her the most. Megatron was manipulative and power mad, Starscream was treacherous and vindictive, and Soundwave would loyally carry out any order Megatron gave him – no matter how insane or destructive – and that all made sense to her. Just seeing those bots made her angry and disgusted, but they still made some twisted kind of sense. But Shockwave? Shockwave just didn't care. He'd tear you apart and stitch you back together just to see how you worked and nothing you said had a snowflake's chance in Hell of changing his mind.

The steady whirr of start-up machinery faltered as one of the ancient computers coughed and wheezed. Aria managed to tear her eyes away from Shockwave's back just in time to see one of the Vehicon's haul back and kick his console with a loud _crunch _that made Aria jump violently. Her feet reconnected with the catwalk only a moment before she darted to the other side, half dragged by Nathanial when he grabbed her wrist to keep her from going over the edge.

Heart pounding in her chest, she braced her hands on her knees and tried to keep her suddenly heavy breathing quiet. She stared through the grating beneath her, eyes flicking from side to side so fast that her brain barely had time to process the information.

But no one had heard her feet on the metal catwalk, partly because it had sounded louder in Aria's ears than anyone else's, but mostly because the Vehicon that had kicked the console had been loudly cursing the ancient computer the whole time.

"Mercer," Shockwave's nasal monotone suddenly appeared, sending another arrow of fear through Aria's racing heart, "Please refrain from damaging the computer. It is not easily replaced. You are."

Vehicons didn't have much in the way of facial expressions, but Aria was sure that the mech looked like he was about to wet his oil pan. "Yes Shockwave." He responded with a nod before returning to his glitching console.

A surprisingly gentle touch on her back made Aria turn around somewhat faster than necessary, but she relaxed when she saw it was only Optimus trying to get her attention.

_"Well he's got it now,"_ Aria thought, swallowing down part of her heart, which had jumped up into her throat.

Optimus slowly pointed at something over her shoulder and Aria turned to see what he was getting at. Frowning slightly, she followed his digit and saw a thick cluster of cables tied together on the other side of the room. Roughly two dozen hung down from the open ceiling above, but farther down they combined into twelve, which turned into five, which turned into one thick cable that connected to the top of the repulsor field holding the dark energon lens.

Right next to Shockwave.

Aria swallowed hard, suddenly knowing what Optimus was asking. The catwalk didn't run around the whole room, instead ending rather abruptly about two thirds of the way around. Given Shockwave's remodeling, Aria figured the rest of the walkway had been removed to make room for the cables and newly installed modern hardware. There wasn't a way for Optimus or Elita to reach the lens without being seen. And while they were a force to be reckoned with, so was Shockwave. And with seven Vehicons as well...well eight against two wasn't very good odds, even when you were Optimus Prime and Elita-One.

Aria sucked in a deep breath before giving Optimus a jerky nod. _"It's safer if it's just me. It _is_." _She tried to tell herself. _"It's not like I'm going to _fall _or anything."_

She looked back over at the cables that hung from ceiling to floor and the potential two story fall they offered.

She closed her eyes and blew out a lungful of air. _"Oh scrap..."_

Deciding that thinking about it was making her _not_ want to actually do it, Aria turned and padded to the end of the catwalk, Nathanial following her without a sound. Two was better than one after all. Probably anyway.

Aria pulled her grappling hook out when they reached the edge of the catwalk and, without looking down, aimed it high in the nest of cables before letting it fly. It shot out of his housing with a slight _thnk-swish_ before burying itself amongst the thick black snakes. They swung over, one at a time, Aria just about leaving imprints on the metal housing she held on so tight.

The cables themselves were wrapped in stiff rubber and made for good traction that kept the two humans from sliding all the way down to the floor. But they still picked their way carefully through the forest of cables, pausing every so often when Shockwave and the Vehicons looked over at the lens below them.

They made it to the third junction where the cables fused together with relatively no problems, but looking down at the cables sprouting from it down below, Aria frowned. Without as many of the things tangled together, there were fewer ways to avoid a straight drop down.

Fortunately, what had appeared to be one massive cable connecting the repulsor field to the ceiling was actually several thinner cables bound tightly together. It took some doing, but eventually Aria managed to wedge herself between two of them and shimmied the rest of the way down.

Her feet finally made contact with the top of the repulsor field and an involuntary shiver ran up her spine. Even through her shoes, she could field the vibrations as the thing worked, making the little hairs in her ear twitch and jitter uncomfortably.

She rubbed at her ears to try and make them stop vibrating as Nathanial jumped the last few feet to the repulsor generator, making it rock slightly. He looked around them, taking in the slick rounded surface of the generator and the positions of the Decepticons with a glance.

His voice was nearly indistinguishable from the hum of the generator when he looked at her again. "No easy way down." He mumbled. "And no way up again when we do get down."

Aria frowned, looking around the room. Up was always harder than down, she thought as she searched the shadows for a way back to where Optimus and Elita were waiting high above them. She had seen something up on the catwalk that might be useful-Ah! There it was.

She pointed at a fissure in the wall across from them, closer to where the Autobots hid. Once they had the lens, they could cross the room behind the modern equipment that hadn't been integrated into the walls of the command deck before using the break in the wall to climb back up.

Nathanial followed her pointing finger and nodded. And then held out his hand to Aria, obviously waiting for something.

Aria stared at his hand and then raised an eyebrow at him, silently demanding, _"What am I supposed to do with that?" _and _"Are you insane?" _simultaneously.

Holding in his nervous frustration, Nat rolled his eyes and pointed at her grapple before holding out his hand again impatiently.

The _"What do you want?" _was instantly replaced with, _"Heck no!"_ although the _"Are you insane?" _stayed right where it was.

"I know how to handle the lens," Nathanial whispered with a brief glance at Shockwave to make sure he wasn't looking at them, "I'll grab it."

"You're going to fall." Aria dared to mutter back. "And then where will we be?"

She could see how hard he was trying to keep his frustration back. "Aria-"

"No." Aria told him, and then before he could argue, she jammed the teeth of the grapple into the cables behind her, turned and started running across the top of the generator.

"Aria _wait_-" Nathanial tried one last time, but by then Aria was already sliding down the side.

_"Men." _She thought with a small eye roll. But then the lip of the edge was racing towards her and she tensed for the approaching jump.

Her feet hit the lip and she leapt, throwing herself into the air. The feel of freefall took her breath away and she clung to her grappling hook with both hands. The sound of air roaring past her filled her ears, overpowering the sound of the rope as it spun out of the canister.

And then the slack vanished and her arms were yanked upward. The sound of the air changed, mellowing out, as she swung like a pendulum towards the lens.

She gasped as she entered the repulsor field, a tingle shooting through her fingers so that for a moment she thought she wouldn't be able to hold on. Preoccupied as she was, she soared right past the lens. And then she was flying out of the field and feeling returned to her digits. She reached the edge of her arc and kicked her legs so that she spun around to face where she was going.

She was better prepared for the field this time and grit her teeth. The lens was racing towards her now, not directly in her path but close enough, and she could feel her fingers slipping on the metal of her grappling hook. She wouldn't be able to hold on long enough for another pass.

With no way to grab it, Aria threw out her legs as she swung past the lens and felt her ankle connect with the hard glassy surface of the lens. It wobbled in the repulsor field, and then fell out altogether as the field lost its grip on the lens.

Aria didn't see it fall. Full of static from the field, she finally lost her grip and fell to the ground.

She hit the ground hard, an involuntary shout escaping her. But it didn't matter. As soon as the lens had fallen out of the field, alarms started to howl around them.

Shockwave turned and his single red optic found Aria on the floor immediately.

"You." He said, as close to shock as Aria had ever heard.

He took a step towards her, hand reaching out to grab her from the floor, and everything in Aria screamed at her to get out of the way, but she was still fuzzy from the fall and the effect of the repulsor field and her body wouldn't respond like it should have.

"You have caused me enough trouble fleshling." Shockwave told her, his voice so calm that Aria felt like a child being reprimanded by its parent. "Give that back or there will be dire consequences."

Aria scrabbled away from his reaching hand and her elbow bumped into something cold and smooth. She spun her head towards it, feeling sick as the room spun with it, but the blur of violet was unmistakable.

She grabbed it with jerky movements, half-numb fingers sliding against the glassy surface before she found the edges. The room spun and the floor heaved under her feet, but she scrabbled out of the way of Shockwave's descending claw.

Purple metal screeched against the floor of the ancient ship, leaving scratches in the deck, but Aria was clear. She ran for the fissure in the wall, Elita waiting on the catwalk above it to help her as Optimus fired on the crowd of Vehicons trying to gang up on her. One of the Steves made it past him though and a black and purple boot slammed down in Aria's path, upsetting her fragile sense of balance and knocking her down again.

She fell, chin slamming into the deck so hard her teeth cracked together and she bit her tongue. Her blood tasted like copper and watered down energon. She stiffened her fingers and kept her hold on the lens even as she rolled out of the way of the Vehicon now reaching for her.

_"Can't get to Elita," _she thought as she got to her feet again, _"can't stay here. Can't get to Elita, can't stay here-"_

Her brain was running in a loop as she swung her head, trying to find a place to get away from Shockwave and the Steves chasing her down.

A grim smile pulled at her in spite of the miniature army of mechs trying to step on her. _"Shockwave and the Steves. Sounds like a pop band."_

Her side started to burn as she ran. At first she thought it was just a stitch from her fall and all the running away, but it got worse, like someone had tied her to a stake and put her over a fire, like they did in those Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Aria looked down and saw that her skin was starting to blister where the dark energon lens was pressed against her body so she didn't lose it.

She might had screamed – she wasn't aware of everything anymore and the howl of the alarms would have covered it up even if she had – she might have not. She did yelp however as her feet stumbled against the pockmarked deck and she went tumbling down again.

_"What the heck is wrong with me?!" _She thought angrily, but then didn't have time to think about it as the dark energon lens went flying from her grip.

The whole deck seemed to hold its breath as the violet lens went skittering across the floor. It came to a sliding stop on the lip of a shaft whose cover had rusted away ages ago...and then with the slowness of a basketball rolling into the hoop, tumbled over the edge.

Behind her, something strange started to happen to Shockwave. His single optic darkened from its usual stable red to a dark and furious crimson. His scientific claw and single remaining hand started to shake. And then before he could question what was happening to him, a great, roaring sound tore its way out of his vocorder, past the blockades he'd long ago built up against such hindrances like emotions.

If he'd been in his usual stable frame of mind, and if it hadn't been eons since he'd felt anything at all, Shockwave would've realized that the crack in his emotional firewalls was probably due to his prolonged exposure to the dark energon lens. But his mind was anything but stable at this point. He wasn't just mad; he was _furious_.

Aria didn't think. She just shoved herself forward and dove down the shaft after the lens, Shockwave's roar of honest-to-Primus anger following tight on her heels.


	41. Chapter 41: Have No Fear of Falling

Hello again! I hope this new chapter finds you all having a great day and that y'all had a fantastic Easter! Thank you Autobot-Bre, NightWing101, IshBabe1497, and Jimmy 144 for your great reviews! And I _Love_ calling those pesky vehicons Steves. It totally fits them. ;3

This chapter title was inspired/influenced by I Am Kloot's song _Have No Fear of Falling_. One of my favorites off of the soundtrack for MTMTE. I haven't been able to find it anywhere but youtube, so you can listen to it there if you like. Now enjoy the chapter and review please! :)

...

The Long Road Home

41 – Have No Fear of Falling – 41

Still trapped up on top of the repulsor field, Nathanial watched with wide eyes as Aria disappeared down the shaft, the shadows of the ancient ship swallowing her up before he could do or say anything.

Shockwave was still bellowing in rage and even the Vehicons under his command were unnerved by the stoic mech's sudden eruption of emotion. They had frozen, those that hadn't had their blasters out drawing them instinctively now, as if they were afraid the scientist would turn on them. Briefly Nathanial wondered if that had happened before seeing how warily they watched him now...

Nathanial didn't let the pause in the battle go to waste. Grabbing the teeth of Aria's grapple, he pried it from the cables she'd jammed it between, hauling the rope hand over hand since he couldn't reach the cylinder and its automatic recall button. He needed to get down off this damn thing, find a way to help Aria before Shockwave sent his minions after her, or worse, went after her himself. Nathanial didn't know what the mech was capable of, especially in his current state, and he didn't want to find out either.

The dull chrome control cylinder finally came into view, clanging along the top of the repulsor field and startling the already skittish Vehicons. Two of them looked over, catching sight of him easily where he stood in the open, away from the cables.

Nathanial swore as they instinctively brought their innate firearms to bear, hands quickly replaced by glowing muzzles.

The crack of a Cybertronian opening fire made him duck down and cover his head (not that that would do much to protect him from even the Vehicons' lousy marksmanship) but no sizzling bolts of energy lanced the air around him. He looked up, still gripping Aria's cylinder with one tenacious hand, and realized that Elita-One had beaten the Vehicons to the punch.

The femme continued firing on the Decepticons from the catwalk while Optimus swung his larger body over the railing and landed with a _boom_ on the deck that Nathanial thought must have shaken the whole ship.

The Vehicons stared up at the red and blue mech, their nerve obviously faltering at the sight of the last Prime, the epitome of everything Autobot, towering over them. And then with a battle roar that rivaled Shockwave's in the confined space, Optimus slammed his fist into the closest Vehicon's faceplates.

The spell of hesitation was shattered as the Vehicon bounced into the deck, sparks glitching out from the new hole in his armor. The rest of the purple and black Decepticons opened fire on the Autobot, but even standing so close their shots only grazed his thicker armor.

"Autobots!" He called into his comm. line as he yanked a Vehicon's gun hand up so his shots sank harmlessly into the ceiling instead of him. "We have the lens!"

...

The orders came through loud and clear.

"Understood Optimus," Magnus responded to his brother's comm. before turning to the Autobots still with him. He hefted his gun, cocking it with one hand and hearing the familiar _cha-chock_ of the slug being loaded into the chamber.

"Autobots," he said, raising a hand to his audio so that it wasn't only the bots present that heard his words, "engage the enemy!"

...

"That's our cue bots!" Springer, newly released from Ratchet's care, shouted above the general din of the Wreckers idling on the opposite side of Altihex. "Let's Wreck n' Rule!" He shouted, punching the air.

His fellow Wreckers roared the familiar motto back at him and then surged forward to the Decepticon stronghold. They were met by a wave of violet-optic bots, all twice as big and more than ready to tear into anything that came their way.

But since when had something like that ever stopped a Wrecker?

...

In the dead center of the Decepticon ship, pinned down by the Vehicons that had found them in the spark room, Ironhide shot Chromia a grin. "Well you heard him darlin'," he rumbled, "let's get goin'."

Chromia, trails of smoke spiraling out of the mouth of her own smaller cannons, returned the sharp grin. "Hey, you're the one that wanted to say hello." She reminded him before firing around the corner. She was rewarded with a shout from down the corridor as her shots hit home.

She heard Ironhide chuckle over the noise of the lower Decepticons' fire hitting nothing but wall as she ducked back behind their makeshift shelter. "It's not my fault they always wanna talk our audios off." He said as he reloaded his more conventional blaster. Then all teasing aside, he looked over at his sparkmate. "Ready?" He asked.

Chromia finished her own weapons check and nodded, optics glowing bright in the semi-dark. "Always." She affirmed.

They waited for a lull in the Vehicons' fire and then, throats and cannons roaring, they spun out of cover and charged the Decepticons.

Poor Vehicons never knew what hit them.

...

::Prowl, you have a green light. Get the neutrals out now!::

Face set despite the rare nervous pulse of his spark, Prowl sent back ::Roger Blaster. Lift off in 10.:: just as he turned to the mech in front of him and gave an affirming nod. "Start the countdown." He ordered firmly.

The mech – Silvergate or something like that Prowl thought – gave a tight nod of understanding before turning back to the console in front of him. They'd run what tests they could, checking and double checking wires to old schematics tucked away in forgotten corners of the Hall of Records, but most were out-dated, unused for centuries, and there had only been so much time. Prowl had calculated a forty-eight percent chance that the _Eight Track's_ engines wouldn't even turn over.

Silvergate's hands shook as he typed in the commands that activated the countdown for liftoff. "Countdown activated," he said, only a slight tremor in his voice, "liftoff in eight, seven, six, five-"

Prowl went through the schematics for the hundredth time that cycle as he remembered them in his head. They were fine. This would work. By his calculations, they had a 91.5674 percent chance of making it off the landing platform without exploding like one of Wheeljack's New Year's candles.

"-four, three, two-"

He didn't know why everybot was so terrified of going up in space. Sentinel Prime's generation had done it loads of times and none of them had ever been roasted on lift off. Well, almost none of them. There was still an 86.4363 chance they'd make it off the landing pad after all. And-

Prowl's face suddenly fell as he watched the countdown come to its end and he tightened his grip on the armrests on either side of him. And oh slag he was terrified.

"-one, ignition!"

Anything Prowl could even hope to say was stymied as over a thousand pounds of explosives was suddenly lit under his feet.

...

On the other side of the _Eight Track's _command deck, Perceptor flicked his optics towards the black and white XO before fixing them once again to the science station's computer monitor. He allowed himself the briefest sigh and looked up at the ceiling as if asking for patience. "No faith," he grumbled in his prim voice to himself, "absolutely no faith in my capabilities whatsoever."

He didn't say another word as he typed commands into the monitor, steadying their rate of ascent before leveling off their trajectory so that their nose was aimed directly towards the far off space bridge.

...

Nathanial was still trying to get off the repulsor field generator. He'd finally managed to find the right button that pulled the rope back into the cylindrical housing, but now he couldn't find the one that would fire the hook out again.

_"How the heck does she work this thing?!"_ He thought angrily as he twisted the casing in his hands.

A Vehicon slammed into the field generator before he could find the answer to his question. Nathanial was thrown backwards by the force, his feet slipping on the sharply angled metal and sending him skidding towards the floor a good twenty feet below him.

He shouted as he fell, arms thrown out away from his body in a futile grasp for balance. His fingers tightened on Aria's hook and rope weapon, and by some miracle, something clicked along the casing under his middle finger.

Black rope spun out of the case to the sound of metal mesh on a solid surface. There was a clank and his arm wrenched at the shoulder as the hook caught on something above his head and Nathanial went swinging away from the knot of Vehicons surrounding Prime.

He wished he could say he'd avoided them intentionally, but as a stray bolt of energy smashed into the wall in front of him, he was painfully aware that he had no control over where he was going.

The grapple lost its half-hazard grip on whatever it had clamped on to, and with another jerk of his arm, Nathanial found himself falling again.

He landed on his back hard, hitting the floor with a breath stealing _oof!_ He tried to get his bearings as he forced himself to pull in air again, but it was difficult for thoughts to make it past the whirlwind in his head.

_"How does she make that look so _easy_?" _He asked himself as he rolled on his side and staggered to his feet.

Just in time to dive to the side to avoid another Vehicon as Optimus Prime knocked him aside. He rolled under the safety of a desk and paused to take stock of what was happening around him. Elita-One was still picking off Decepticons from above, although two of the Vehicons had gotten wise and were climbing up to her bird's eye view. Optimus Prime was taking care of the Vehicons still on the ground floor. And Shockwave-

Nathanial blinked and quickly looked around the room again. Where was Shockwave?!

"Fleshling!" A voice thundered above him, answering his question. "Where is the lens?!"

Nathanial looked up, only now realizing that it wasn't a desk he was crouching under.

"Oh _Pit_." He spat, launching himself forward and out of Shockwave's massive shadow. There was a side door on the other side of the consoles that the Decepticon scientist had been using earlier and he ran pell-mell towards it, hoping to put some space between him and the heavy treads of the Vehicons.

Shockwave let him get as far as the door before going after him. Nathanial wasn't sure if he was playing with him or if it had taken him that long to decide on the most prudent course of action.

He rolled to the side as Shockwave made a grab for him. _"Peg!" _He shouted in his head, his silent word shooting down his tether line to Peg waiting in the fragile ground around the ship. _"I could use a little help here!"_

The door opened when it detected Shockwave's presence and Nathanial vaulted through it and into the hallway beyond, Shockwave tearing after him. The hall smelled dusty and what appeared to be construction supplies lined the walls. Nat stayed behind these as much as he could, relying on the sheets of metal plating to conceal him while he wished the bolt-guns were small enough for him to use.

_"Peg!" _He tried again as Shockwave picked up the nearest piece of sheet metal and hurled it aside, his long buried temper raging in full force. _"PEG!"_

Nathanial swore under his breath as Shockwave picked up one of the electrical tools and tossed it sideways where it smashed through an interior window, scattering specialized glass everywhere.

Nat covered his head, curling up to try and give the glass shards less of a target, and as he did a small far away voice shouted, _"Nat!"_

Nathanial looked up as Shockwave threw aside another sheet of plating in his search to find the remaining human and saw that the room on the other side of the window the Decepticon had broken had long since rotted away in the last millennia that the ship had been buried down here. Now all that remained was a gaping hole in the side of the ship just past the shattered window. In the distance beyond it, a black speck had appeared, making a beeline for the ship.

_"I see it," _Peg told him after he had sent her an image of the broken window, _"give me twenty seconds."_

Nathanial flinched as Shockwave hurled another piece of plating against the wall with a resounding clash. He was getting closer to Nathanial now. _"I don't _have_ twenty seconds Peg!"_ He shouted back.

The speck tossed its head impatiently and neighed, the sound small and tiny but growing louder as Peg poured on speed.

Nathanial eyed the distance still between them. _"You won't make it in time. You'll have to jump."_

Peg sounded irritated in his head. _"If I have to jump then so do you!" _She shot back at him.

Nathanial glanced around his shelter and heard more than saw the distance as the wind whistled through the now gaping hole in the ship. _"You're not close enough yet-" _he tried, but Peg was having none of it.

_"I'll catch you you idiot!"_ She snapped at him. _"Just do it!"_

_ "Peg-"_

_**"Now!"**_

Nathanial tightened his grip on Aria's grapple and with a shout to steel his nerves, ran out from cover towards the shattered window as fast as he could. He felt the impact blasts of blaster bolts at his heels as Shockwave got off a few shots and then he was out in open air, flying feet first towards the far off ground.

His heart leapt in his throat at the sight of the tan blanket spread out in all directions beneath him and for an awful second he thought this would be the end of him...

...and then the familiar _pop_ of displaced air snapped in his ears as Peg shot out of her transwarp portal directly beneath him. She waited just long enough for him to latch onto her saddle before warping away again, putting as much distance between her and the ship full of furious Decepticons as she could.

Above her, Shockwave leaned his head out the window just in time to see the organic mech and his techno-organic creature disappear into a waiting transwarp portal. Even in his mentally agitated state, he logged the information away as interesting. It might lead to a fascinating set of experiments on the link between organics and Cybertronian technology.

But that would have to wait until he had more time. Forcibly calming his pulsing spark, Shockwave raised a digit to his external audio. "Skywarp," he contacted the last of the Seeker command trine in the area, "that male organic you informed me of at Tyger Pax has reappeared. Take care of him for me."

There was a deranged laugh on the other side of the static laced channel. _"Gladly." _The jet answered past the rush of static before cutting the line entirely.

In the distance Shockwave heard the roar and pop of a jet engine breaking the sound barrier but didn't bother listening for anything more as he took the closest elevator down to the sublevels of the ship. Undoubtedly, that's where the organic femme now was with his dark energon lens.

And he meant to get it back.

...

Prowl slammed into the side of his command chair as another volley of Seeker fire rammed into their starboard side. The Decepticons may have lost the dark energon lens, but certainly not their will to fight.

"Fire starboard plasma cannons!" Prowl shouted over the whoop of alarms as the flagship took damage. "Keep them away from the rest of the fleet!"

_"If you could call it that." _He thought bitterly.

Silvergate's optics were almost white with fear, but he kept them glued to his console as he read off incoming damage reports. "They've knocked out guns 2, 4, and 7 sir, however the hull is holding."

"And the neutrals?" Prowl snapped.

The mech standing at the station next to Silvergate's answered. "They've only taken out one of their ships so far. It seems they're concentrating their fire on the Autobot ships."

Prowl glowered at the image of Starscream and Thundercracker as they led another run along the side of the _Eight Track_. _"Probably saving the neutrals for last after they've gotten us out of the way."_ He thought.

A strangled sound escaped Silvergate's vocorder – barely heard above the sound of the alarms – as new information scrolled across his console monitor. "The _Steelhaven _reports that the first neutrals are through the space bridge. They're holding the Decepticons back for the rest."

"Good." Prow muttered. They were almost done here. "Relay to all Autobot ships; hold the line until the neutrals are through. As soon as they've entered the space bridge, we're gone."

Silvergate nodded sharply. "Yes sir."

Prowl just braced himself as Starscream let loose another barrage of missiles on their starboard side.

...

The Seeker commander wasn't all that happy with the situation either. _"Cursed Autobots! Where did they find these flying junk heaps in such a short amount of time? And where do they think they're even going!?"_

Even as he thought it, another of the neutral ships blinked out of existence through the space bridge. Starscream didn't know if they were going somewhere safe or had just all offlined in a fiery explosion brought about by the ancient piece of equipment, but either way he wondered at their madness. _This _was a better idea than living under Decepticon rule? Had someone loosened the bolts holding their heads together?

He released another volley of missiles at the flagship, their detonations against the white hull leaving streaks of black and gray along its sides.

Starscream allowed himself a moment of victory, but it ended shortly as he saw one of the Rainbringers lose control over his engine. Only instead of crashing to the ground as it sputtered and died, his body floated along its path just over the Autobot's ship's nose.

_"Slag," _the Seeker commander thought fiercely, _"that's the third one."_

::Did none of you glitches learn how to fight in a vacuum?!:: He demanded loudly over pulsewave.

::Well maybe if command had _taught_ them.:: A familiar deep voice cut through on the command line.

Starscream growled and wished he could shoot the blue and gray jet a glare. ::Mute it Thundercracker! Or you'll follow the Autobots into the Well of AllSparks!::

Thundercracker didn't respond as he fell in behind Starscream as they strafed the best armed Autobot ship; a white and gray monstrosity streamlined for quick travel with cannons down either of its sides. Their shields must have been damaged though because thirty kliks later and one of the remaining Rainbringers exploded a new hole in its side.

_"Tch," _Starscream thought moodily as cargo and mechs alike tumbled out into the vacuum, _"lucky shot."_

...

"_Lost Light _reports hull breach on level 17!" Silvergate shouted.

Calculations that would have taken other mechs days to cycle through ran through Prowl's head in nano-kliks. "Tell Hot Rod to get to the space bridge." He ordered, coming to the end of his calculations.

Silvergate nodded and sent the message, and then a few seconds later paused over his screen.

"Hot Rod is...protesting those orders sir." He finally said.

Prowl glowered at the absent mech. 'Protesting' was probably putting it politely. He'd have to review the rowdy mech's word choice himself if they survived this in order to decide what to write him up for specifically. For now though...

"Tell him he's no good to anybody if he's extinguished and to get out of here _now!"_

...

::They're getting away.:: Thundercracker pointed out the obvious.

Starscream fumed as he watched the white ship limp away towards the space bridge. They could still bring it down, despite their lessened numbers. But if they did, that would only give the remaining Autobot ships a greater chance of escaping. ::I can see that!:: Starscream screeched at him across the pulsewave.

Thundercracker would have shrugged it off if he'd had shoulders. As it was he just sounded as calm as ever. ::Well are we going after them or not?::

Starscream fumed. Only a handful of neutral ships remained and they were so close to the bridge that not even he could catch up with them now. Perhaps Skywarp could have, but he was down on the surface with the _Nemesis_.

_"Useless." _Starscream decided hotly.

::Leave them!:: He finally snapped. ::Concentrate on their flagship. If Prime isn't there calling the shots himself than he's put one of his favorites in charge. Either way it's one less Autobot snapping out orders to worry about.::

...

"The last neutrals are through!" Silvergate's voice rang through the noisy bridge. "So's the _Xantium_. The _Steelhaven _and the _Lost Light _are following now."

"Go after them!" Prowl snapped out. "And signal the _Ark_. They don't have much time."

As Silvergate snapped out an affirmative, what felt like every Seeker in the area converged on their sluggish ship and opened fired on them. Alarms wailed and mechs shouted out status reports and Prowl sat in his chair, gripping the armrests tighter than necessary as he downloaded it all in, processor suggesting and rejecting possibilities and outcomes as the shadow of the massive, ancient machine finally fell over them.

He tightened his digits on the command chair, optics widening only slightly at the rip in space and time looming before them.

There was the slightest pause in the movement on the command deck as every bot present turned toward Prowl.

He stared at the space bridge a nano-klik longer, processor reminding him for the umpteenth time that this could just as well vaporize them as save them.

But it was only a split second of doubt. And what choice did they really have at this point? "All ahead full!" He ordered firmly.

The Autobots around him instantly went back to their consoles and duties, some reassured by his quick response. There was nothing this side of the space bridge that could reassure the others.

The Seekers peeled away as the _Eight Track _finally crossed the event horizon of the space bridge. Prowl released the vent full of air he'd been holding as the space bridge light swallow them whole. They had made it, he reasoned, for better or worse they had made it. They were safe.

He was wrong.

...

Aria hadn't been able to find a way out of the ship before Shockwave caught up with her. And he was still fragged by her very existence.

"Organic nuisance!" Shockwave spat swiping at Aria with his only humanoid hand as she ran down yet another dark hallway. The old ship was littered with them and so far the only light she'd been able to find was Shockwave's high beams pinned to her back. "I am going to pick you apart piece by piece and keep you online so that you may watch!"

Aria scrabbled out of his grasp yet again. Her breath came hard and fast in her chest now and her spark-heart ached because of the close proximity of the dark energon lens. She tried to hold it out in front of her, away from her actual body, but she kept tripping under its nauseating influence and clutching it closer.

Her feet stumbled over each other as she fought back the waves of dizziness and revulsion that crashed into her from the lens and this time she didn't catch herself in time. The lens touched her bare skin where her shirt had torn and she screamed as shooting pains tore through her chest like a heart attack, radiating from her spark-heart outward.

_"Frikkin' ow!" _She managed to keep the scream in her head. _"This thing's going to give me heart failure before I can even get the heck out of here!"_

Since she'd already had part of her heart vaporized, she thought there might be something ironic about this, but she was too busy trying to run in a straight line to put her finger on it.

She took a sharp corner and found herself in a long maintenance room filled with half rusted girders, shadowed rafters, and non-sentient machines that worked nonstop on the exposed floor beneath her. The deck ended a third of the way into the room with only long skinny girders forming gangways across the rest of the distance. Below the edge, there was nothing but dark space and grinding machines. Dank air gusted up from far below her and Aria realized in pulse pounding horror that part of the floor had rotted away ages ago, leaving a great gaping hole into the Underworld beneath her feet.

_"As if Shockwave wasn't bad enough." _She thought. Her legs were starting to quake and shiver as she became more and more aware of the never-ending space stretching out beneath her, ready to swallow her whole if she made one misstep.

Aria swallowed hard through her gasping breath, some morbid part of her unable to resist peering over the edge to see the drop stretching out into the dry and dusty dark beneath her. It was a long way down...

She hesitated at the edge a split second longer before she realized that Shockwave terrified her more than the thought of freefalling to her death. Before the mech could catch up with her, Aria darted along the nearest girder and ducked out of sight behind one of the rusting steel supports that stretched the immense height from floor to ceiling. The girder creaked and groaned uncertainly with every echoing step, but it didn't disintegrate out from under her as she pressed her back against the support.

She struggled out of her now ragged jacket and wrapped it around the dark energon lens to muffle its unforgiving glow in the semi-dark of the room. Aria had only just gotten the sleeves tied together so it wouldn't come undone easily when Shockwave stepped heavily into the entrance; his immense, blocky frame cutting off what limited light there had been, letting a dark gray shroud fall over the room.

"Fleshling." Shockwave intoned into the dark room, voice sharp but no higher than his usual monotone. "I know you are in here."

Aria clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle the sound of her ragged breathing. It was echoing in the cavernous space, threatening to give her away.

Shockwave shuffled closer to the edge behind her, the sound followed by the strained groan of ancient metal that set the floor to rocking up and down on its weakened supports. Aria's eyes went wide, but she held in her gasp as she realized that the floor wouldn't support the Decepticon's weight.

Shockwave must have realized the same thing because after another experimental step, he retreated back into the safety of the entrance.

She heard him start to pace in the doorway.

"You've nowhere to run fleshling." Shockwave's voice suddenly echoed through the chasm-like space, his deadly calm reappearing as his processor once again reinstated his emotional firewalls. "If you surrender the lens to me now I will extinguish you quickly. You won't feel anything before I dissect your remains."

_"Oh _that's _lovely." _Aria thought sharply as she leaned her head back against the girder and swallowed convulsively. He was right though; nowhere to go, nowhere better to hide. She was trapped.

_"They'll find me." _She told herself as she tried to breath quietly over the edge of the fabric-wrapped lens. _"They'll come for me. Optimus won't just _leave_ me here."_

_But will he make it in time?_

She didn't know where the other voice came from, even though it was in her own head. Either way it had a point. She couldn't just stand here and wait for Optimus and the other Autobots to come and save her. Shockwave might find her before they did. And if he got his servos on the lens again...

Aria shuddered, but she wasn't sure which scared her more; the thought of Shockwave finishing what he had started or that there was still a way she could still escape. She tried to stiffen her spine with resolve, but she couldn't shake her fear entirely as she slowly stepped out from behind the rust-red girder.

Shockwave's single optic found her immediately. His body went still, even the little motions of vent-gears ceasing momentarily.

With strained calmness, he reached out his hand. "Give me the lens fleshling." He ordered her, his suddenly raging emotions barely held in check.

But Aria had cracked his facade. The thought actually made her smile a little, despite the chasm on either side of her. "What's the matter Shockwave? Have I gotten under your skin?" She couldn't resist prodding. "I must be the first in, what? A hundred vorns? More?"

Shockwave's optics narrowed at her, some of his buried anger crawling to the polished surface. "Do not taunt me fleshling. You know better than most what I am capable of."

A shudder ran down Aria's spine. "True." She admitted, still holding the lens close but without touching it more than she had to. "But right now I've got the only thing in the universe that you want."

She held out the lens where he could see, violet glinting through the holes in her jacket. "And if you ever want to lay your greedy little claw on it again, you'd better let me out of here."

Shockwave stiffened even more as he realized what Aria already had; there was no floor. And she was holding the lens out over open air.

"You drop that and I will kill you." Shockwave told her, "But only after I've learned everything there is about your anatomy from the inside _out_."

Aria swallowed convulsively at the threat and her eyes flicked to the cloth covered lens. Her breath turned thready as she remembered her sister's face after they had rescued her from Shockwave's lab; the nightmares she had seen lurking there after he had picked her apart and stitched her back together again, over and over until Sera had prayed he would lose interest in her just so she could finally die.

Shockwave knew what she was thinking. "Is that what you want fleshling? To die under _my _care?"

For a long moment, Aria stood perfectly still in the dark. Her eyes fixed on Shockwave's scientific claw, brain telling her from living around Ratchet for so long that it could transform into a plethora of medical tools; drill bits and bone saws, syringes and spark shunts...

"Ah Hell," the organic Autobot finally muttered, Shockwave watching her intently, "it's not like I haven't been-there-done-that before."

Shockwave's super-processor only had a split-nano-klik to register her words before her fingers released the lens.

_"NO!"_ He shouted, hand stretching out to catch the falling lens.

But it was too little too late. The lens toppled, end over end, down into the abyss. The air ripped Aria's jacket away from it, revealing a bright violet glow that flared briefly before blinking out of existence almost as soon as it appeared.

There was a tiny infinitesimal sound – like a penny dropped in an empty fountain – as it hit the ground far beneath them. And as they watched, the pinprick of purple light that was the lens disappeared into the myriad of tunnels and fragile, metallic rock of the Mitteous Plateau, breaking through somewhere along the line to be swallowed up by the Underworld beneath its crumbling surface.

Far, far, far below them, a ground shaking, primal roar rose up from that place where even mechs like Shockwave feared to tread.

Aria's face was set as she stared down the mech in front of her. "Good luck finding it now." She told him. "Because Primus knows you'll need it."

With more slowness than Aria had ever seen him use, Shockwave tore his burning red optic away from the lens' last location. He was more furious than Aria had ever seen him, but unlike before he was so glacially calm – far past the point of roaring, raging fury – and it was almost funny and completely terrifying all at once.

"Not even Primus will be able to save you from me now Sparkfinder." Shockwave told her, voice dangerously, terrifyingly calm.

It was the first time Shockwave had ever referred to Aria by name. She blinked once, a little surprised that he knew her Autobot name. But what surprised her even more was realizing that she wasn't scared of his threats.

Shockwave was coming for her now, rotting floor or not. Another minute and he would have her. Aria had expected that. She knew what came next.

An eerie sense of calm pervaded her body when Aria spoke next, as if she was no longer quite attached to her body. Her last words, when she spoke them, echoed in the empty space like a prayer in church.

"Till all are one." She murmured.

And then Aria stepped off the girder and let herself fall into the darkness where even Shockwave could not reach her.


	42. Chapter 42: Into the Abyss

Hey guys, I just want to apologize for the delay in posting this. Last week was...weird and for some reason I couldn't focus on anything to save my life, including proof reading this for posting. And its such an important chapter that I wanted to make sure there were no mistakes, especially ones that could cause problems later.

Big thanks to all my readers and reviewers though! I got a good response last chapter which was really nice heading into such a lousy week. So THANK YOU! Thank you bunches! n_n;

I have more music that helped me write this chapter early on, and some that just reminded me of it later after it was finished so I hope you like it.

Anyway enjoy the chatper! And, you know, don't hate me when you're done...::zips away::

_Gone by Ionna Gika_

_Debris Field _by Jeff Williams (from Red vs. Blue Season 10 Soundtrack)__

_The Light Behind Your Eyes by My Chemical Romance_

_Space Battle by Jeff Williams (from Red vs. Blue Season 10 Soundtrack)_

...

The Long Road Home

42 – Into the Abyss – 42

"_Death is natural and necessary, but not just. It is a random force of nature; survival is equally accidental."_

_- __Harriet McBryde Johnson_

Skywarp appeared on their tail between one instant and the next.

_"He is annoyingly persistent!"_ Peg snorted as she angled her wings sharply, darting through a hole barely larger than her own wingspan, hoping to lose the oversized jet.

Skywarp giggled maniacally and warped from one side of the gap to the free space beyond, shaving precious feet off of the distance between him and his prey.

Nathanial chanced a look over his shoulder as the black and purple jet revved his engine at them. He was looming behind them, keeping right with them no matter how many tight turns and downward spirals Nat threw at him.

_"He's holding back." _Nathanial observed grimly. _"I think the glitch is toying with us."_

Peg tossed her head, gnawing on her bit. _"I _know_ he's toying with us." _She rumbled unhappily. _"I don't like him Nathanial. He's mean."_

Nathanial was too focused on the overload of data from Peg's in-organic sensors to roll his eyes. "I've noticed Peg."

They tore through the air, Peg's hooves galloping across empty space automatically as her wings did all the real work. They had broken away from the fragile dirt arches that surrounded the partially freed warship now and were barreling along the side of the Decepticon ship itself. There was nowhere they could turn that Skywarp wouldn't see.

It was only by complete chance that Nathanial turned and saw the flicker of movement through a hole in the ship's hull. Something was falling inside the ship, he realized, something small and pale and wearing clothes made out of metallic fabric...

"Aria!" He shouted.

Peg followed his line of sight and screamed something in her own animal language, tossing her head nervously, wings slowing just a fraction.

"No!" Nathanial jammed his heels into her sides and she sped up again at the reminder. "We can't stop!"

_"We can't just let her fall either!" _Peg shouted back at him. He'd never heard her worried this much about another human before.

"I know, I know!" He said quickly, eyeing the space through another long tear in the side of the ship. Open space, few fallen girders, not much else in the way-

"Hold on to your feathers Peg" he shouted at Peg, leaning forward in the saddle so his head was inches from her neck, "This is going to be tight!"

She screamed a challenge to the wind. _"Worry about yourself!" _She told him, and then dove through a hastily created transwarp portal.

They were immediately in a dark and cavernous space, the only light the yellowish sun from outside the crack in the hull and the bright white high beams coming from Shockwave. The roar of the wind had disappeared only to be replaced by Shockwave's renewed cry of fury and the bestial roar of the Underworlders not-far-enough below them.

Nathanial had all of two seconds to soak this in before Aria's body fell across Peg's outstretched neck. He grabbed her, pulling her closer to the center of Peg's body where she would be better protected by the Equine's wings – and then they were back in transwarp, snapping out into the free air outside the ship.

_"Holy -!" _The rest of Aria's startled words were snatched away by the renewed wind slamming into them.

Nathanial allowed himself a grim smile. "Nice to see you too." He had to shout to be heard over the wind. "You really need to stop dropping in like this." He told her, remembering what Fastlane had told him about Aria's fall at Tyger Pax.

"Oh ha _ha."_ She shouted, clearly unamused. "Now how bout you land this thing before I end up hurling-"

She was cut off by the sudden pop of displaced air, quickly overshadowed by the roar of a Seeker engine. Aria twisted around to see what was going on and Nathanial tightened his grip on her with a vaguely worded shout so she didn't twist right out of the saddle. He'd already guessed what had happened, but his suspicions were confirmed when he saw her eyes go wide.

"Oh _scrap_," she squeaked as Nat leaned forward and shouted, "Peg!"

Peg didn't need any more urging. She dove into a sharp spiral turn, coming out of it in the reverse direction before Aria even got a proper scream going.

Another pop and wash of hot air as Skywarp transwarped directly in front of them. "Nice try squishy!" He cackled.

Peg spun as soon as she felt the portal neither human could see, scrambling at a diagonal away from the leering jet. Her quick thinking bought them maybe ten seconds of breathing space before Skywarp appeared again, blocking their path. Peg swerved, not bothering to change direction this time as she barreled underneath him. Another ten seconds, another cackling laugh, and he was there again, smoothly transforming into his humanoid mode so he could grin down at them, held in the air by the jets in the heels of his boots.

"Boo!" He cackled even as Peg dropped down into a hastily made transwarp of her own.

Pops of air filled the sky like some bizarre version of an arcade game as Peg disappeared and reappeared at random intervals in the air, Skywarp always one step ahead of her.

The Equine's steady wing beats finally stuttered, nearly sending her humans into the next transwarp on their own. She was too hot. He was too fast.

_"Nathanial," _she whined along their tether even as she dove into transwarp yet again, _"Nathanial I'm tired."_

Nathanial let the overload of information from Peg's stronger senses wash over him, clicking into place where he could understand them, as he looked her over. Her internal transwarp drive was bordering on overheating now. They couldn't keep this up much longer.

He tried to think of how they could lose the black and purple Seeker, but nothing had changed since Skywarp had first started dogging their heels.

As if he realized the game was ending, Skywarp called out behind them, "What's the matter squishy? Don't you want to play anymore?" He asked, sounding like one of those kids that liked to rip the head off their teddy bears when they lost interest in them. "Oh well, I'm getting bored with you anyway."

There was one final pop of displaced air, and then Skywarp was standing in front of them, the heat from his rocket boots sending updrafts to mess with Peg's already unbalanced wings.

Peg reared, wings working furiously in quick strokes as she tried to backpedal. Dimly she heard Aria scream as she and Nathanial were forced backwards, nearly sliding right off her back.

She kicked her back legs out, bucking to try and keep them on, and by some miracle it worked. Round brown eyes locked onto Skywarp as her wings found their rhythm again.

Furious that he had almost made her lose her humans, Peg screamed a challenge at the Decepticon. _"Spoiled brat!"_ She shouted, lashing out with iron-shod hooves. And in a hit that was just as much blind luck as planned attack, her hooves struck home.

Skywarp shrieked profanity as a long fracture appeared in the casing of his left optic, like ice cracking in winter. He reached up a hand, optic flickering as his processor automatically redirected energon to mend the fissure.

"Stupid organic!" Skywarp shouted angrily, swiping at Peg with his other hand.

Peg danced backwards, trying to wriggle enough space between them that she could disappear through another transwarp. But she was already so tired, she couldn't pull one up in time.

Skywarp's hand slammed into her side, snapping one wing instantly on impact and knocking her out of the air like she was a fly. Peg felt herself fall, slipping out of the air streams entirely as she and her humans tumbled down to the ground only to come to a bone jarring stop at the bottom that ended in pain and blackness.

...

Prowl was surrounded by a different kind of blackness as he and the _Eight Track_ dove headlong through the long dormant space bridge. It stretched, alternating black and green, in their forward viewport, flashes of what looked like lightning cutting through the strange tunnel in time and space at odd intervals. It was impossible to tell how far they had to go and even Prowl was starting to feel antsy that they might never get out.

A fork of lightning, greenish-yellow in the unearthly light of the space bridge tunnel, lanced across the large view screen that stretched across the front of the command deck, making several bots wince at the sudden light.

Prowl tore his optics from the sight of the _Xantium _plowing through the space bridge ahead of them, smoke streaming out behind it and clouding their already limited vision. "Silvergate, how are the other ship's holding up?" He asked, keeping his voice level and moderated even as another bolt of lightning flicked across the view screen, nearly hitting the _Lost Light's_ starboard side.

Silvergate's optics were glitching with the force of his fear, but he looked down at his monitor in spite of it. "Sensors only register the presence of the _Axalon, Xantium, _and the _Lost Light_ ahead of us. The _Lost Light _has lost an engine but is still flying while the _Xantium _has a fire on level 21. They're snuffing it now. _Axalon _reports minimal damage."

Prowl nodded, inwardly relieved. Things were under control so far.

The mech next to Silvergate spoke up. "The _Axalon _also reports that they have four of the neutral ships ahead of them on their sensor boards. It looks like the space bridge is interfering with all sensor arrays."

"Tell every ship to report what ships they can detect. Let's see who's still with us." He ordered.

The reports had only just started to come in when another lightning strike speared through the space in front of them, only instead of dissipating harmlessly back into the space bridge ether, it struck the ship ahead of the _Xantium, _hard.

"What was it?!" Prowl snapped out, trying to see past the smoke and fire of the _Xantium_ to see what was going on. "What happened?!"

It took a precious nano-klik for Silvergate to find his vocal processor. "Sir," he snapped out in a strangled voice as he stared at his board, not able to believe what he was seeing, "the _Lost Light_ has disappeared!"

Prowl's narrowed optics flicked to the mech that had spoken. "What do you mean disappeared? Was it destroyed by the space bridge energy?"

"No," Silvergate stammered, "I mean it's-it's just gone! It crashed into the side of the bridge tunnel and vanished from the sensors!"

"Well find it!" Prowl snapped. "It can't have just disappeared!"

"It appears that the lightning strike hit their remaining engine," Perceptor spoke up from the science station, voice as calm and prim as it always was. "Without it they could have lost control of the ship and fallen out of the space bridge." He theorized. It was what he did best.

Prowl stared at him. "And what happens when ships fall out of a space bridge?" He asked loudly.

Percy was still rifling through the data collected from the _Lost Light's _sudden disappearance. "Well, given that a space bridge is a short path from one point of space to another-" he started.

"Short answer Perceptor!" Prowl cut him off, recognizing that the mech was gearing up for a long winded explanation.

Percy shot him a look. "They could be anywhere between Cybertron and wherever the other end of the space bridge is. If they weren't destroyed entirely by the energy when they fell out that is."

Silvergate looked between the Autobot head scientist and the XO behind him. "Sir, do we go after them?" He finally asked.

Prowl thought hard. They had no way of knowing where Hot Rod and his ship had ended up, not while they were in this bridge. And once they got out there was no way of telling if they could get back in to catch up with the other Autobots and the neutrals.

"No," he finally said, "our job is to see the neutrals to safety. We stay with them."

The command deck went quiet at the order, but no one argued with it. He turned his optics to the view screen just in time to see another spear of lightning snap out from the side of the 'tunnel'. It struck the top of the closest neutral ships, making a scatter of sparks spray off its blue body. The sudden impact jarred the ship sideways, making it spin on its vertical axis and ram into the side of the space bridge just like the _Lost Light_.

As Prowl watched, the ship seemed to...fracture, as if he was looking at it through a screen of glass with a large crack running through the middle, and for a nano-klik he feared the ship would break apart, half out of the tunnel and half still in.

But then the ship caught up with itself and it disappeared entirely from their sensors, like an afterimage that had finally disappeared.

"The _Heaven's Carriage _is gone sir." Silvergate's voice cut through the heavy air on the command deck, optics glued to his sensor boards.

Prowl's hands tightened on the armrests, but no one else noticed. "Message all ships, tell them to keep away from the sides of the bridge and to avoid the energy strikes at all costs. We'll search for the _Lost Light_ and the _Heaven's Carriage_ as soon as we get out of this bridge. They may not have been destroyed when they fell out of it." He told the others, hoping to reassure them.

A few of the bots nodded, but none spoke as they returned to their monitors and consoles, crossing their digits that they lived long enough to search for the missing bots.

Prowl didn't know who was on board the neutral ship or how good their chances were at survival, but for once he hoped that Hot Rod's knack for defying the odds would keep him and his crew alive long enough for the Autobots to find them again.

They roared onward, searching for the literal light at the end of the tunnel that signified they'd made it through.

...

Still trapped on Cybertron's decaying surface, Aria picked her way across the debris field that surrounded the Wastes' western side. She held one arm close to her side, using it to shield what she thought was a fractured rib in her right side, maybe two. Her head was throbbing and she couldn't see straight, but other than that she was alright. It was hard to believe after a fall like that, but then she'd survived worse.

She paused on top of a small rise in the brutalized landscape, turning her thundering head in a slow scan for any signs of friendly life. She hadn't found Nathanial or Peg yet, and she was worried about them.

"Nat?" She tried, voice coming out as a rasp. "Peg?"

Her only answer was a concussive blast erupting several miles away at her back. She flinched, shoulders hunching forward and her one arm jerking convulsively up to protect her head from anything else that might fall out of the sky. She tried to spin around to see if anyone detonating those explosions had noticed her tiny presence, but her feet weren't quite listening to her. They tangled together, tripping her.

She fell backwards, a brief flicker of fireworks lighting up her spine when she landed on her back and slid the short way down the gravelly rise.

She came to a stop at the bottom. She opened her eyes halfway and distantly heard herself groan. The world was fuzzier than it had been before, but she could still tell the difference between the brown-gray of the Wastelands and the rust colored sky as the sun began to sink below Cybertron's horizon.

She lay there long seconds, her temples throbbing in time with her pulse as it pounded in her inner ear. Without much conscious thought, she reached out and lightly touched the different lay lines connected to her half-spark, getting brief glimpses of the others despite the distance between them. Chromia and Ironhide battling Decepticons on the plateau outside the ancient warship , Bluestreak miles away outside of Altihex, picking off what Seekers were still there out of the air with his rifle. Elita and Optimus racing towards Beta's group where they had been pinned down by Vehicons, Hound with them. Ratchet pacing onboard the _Ark_ muttering, _"Where are they? They should be here by now!"_ Bumblebee behind him, already strapped into one of the medical bay's stasis slabs for liftoff. Wheeljack locked in a small dark cell that reeked of wet, dripping liquid filtered by several hundred feet of metallic soil...

Aria's eyes snapped open at the sudden re-established contact with the lost mech. She reached for him, sitting up as she did without realizing it. She distantly felt his fuzzy consciousness reaching back for her, dimly heard him trying to tell her something – a plea, a message, a location she couldn't tell; couldn't make out the mumbled words – and then another explosion shattered the air to her right, close enough now that a wall of heat crashed over her a second later, the force of it sending her to the ground once more.

When it had passed ten kliks later, her bond with Wheeljack was once again a dark hole in her chest.

Aria clenched her teeth together, bruised jaw aching at the pressure as she bit back a cry of frustration. He was alive! And right there, he'd been _right there! _If she had just held on tighter, refused to let go of him-

-she probably would have been sucked right back into spark shock.

Still sprawled out on the ground, she turned and pressed her nose against the gritty, metallic dirt of the Wastes. Wheeljack was close – had to be for her to get even that much of a picture of where he was – maybe even buried right under her nose. The Mitteous Plateau was full of underground caverns and spaces. If she told Ultra Magnus or Elita, maybe one of them could find the missing engineer before they followed the _Ark _off Cybertron.

_"Hold on tight Jack," _Aria sent him firmly, hoping he could still hear her, _"we'll find you just...hold on."_

She knew there wouldn't be a reply – she wasn't even sure he had heard her words at all – so with a stifled groan caused by equal parts battered heart and battered muscles, Aria shoved herself to her feet, keeping low to try and stay out of sight of any nearby Decepticons. That wouldn't stop their sensors from picking her up, but they seldom ran scans for organic life so maybe...

Watching where she put her feet, Aria carefully picked her way across the debris field, heading in the opposite direction of the last explosion. The gray ground was littered with pieces of out-of-place debris – twisted scraps of metal armor, blackened shell casings, even the occasional digit of an unfortunate bot – but there was nothing organic that she could see. No blood spatter, no scattered horse hair, no broken bodies-

A sound cut through Aria's morbid thought. She froze where she was, sheltered minutely between two drifts of cluttered debris and grit. Her head snapped up, but there were no metal bodies around that she could see. She waited a moment longer, heart half in her throat, hoping that Nathanial or Peg would walk out from behind any of the debris piles, but nothing moved.

She waited for the sound to repeat itself but when it didn't, she took the chance and softly called out, "Nat? Peg? Is that you?"

A long moment of silence, and then the sound of a soft whinny.

Aria's heart sped up, the lump in her throat threatening to choke her as she stumbled forward. "Peg?" She hissed, still not sure where the Equine was. "Peg where are you!"

She turned around a tall debris pile and found her. Barely conscious and leaking blood and lubricant from half a dozen cuts, but she found her.

Round eyes flicked up to Aria's face, so wide that the she could see the whites around the Equine's dark brown eyes, and Aria felt the breath leave her.

"Oh Peg..." she whispered. She didn't know what else to say.

Peg was splayed out on her side, chest rising and falling quickly in a pained staccato. Her bottom wing pinned uselessly beneath her side while the top one was extended across her, the farthest feathers half lying at an unnatural angle that kept her from pulling it in. Metallic feathers had been torn from their neat and even rows, some scattered on the ground around her, one or two sticking up out of the ground where their sharp nibs had stuck in the gritty surface of the Wastes. Horse blood mixed with black oil on the ground under her and her long neck stretched away from her broken body, held up off the ground by a flat slab of rock.

It was bad, Aria realized, gut twisting, very bad.

"I'll-" she tried to think of what she could do to save her, "I'll go get Nathanial, Peg. He'll know how to take care of you, just stay here-"

She had already half-turned to go as she spoke, but a sharp, _"Stop!"_ from Peg made her freeze again.

_"Nathanial can't help Aria," _Peg said, her voice weak from the damage but still easily heard, _"don't leave me here by myself."_

Aria looked down at the ground in front of her feet, still facing away from the broken Equine. She could still go find Nathanial, still might make it back before Peg-

_"Please?"_

It was barely more than a whisper, but it made Aria stop breathing for a second. Her eyes stung, but she'd cried so much in the past few days that she hardly even registered the dampness cutting tear tracks down her face. With difficulty, she swallowed past the rock in her chest and dragged air back into her lungs, finally turning back towards Peg.

"Okay Peg," she mumbled, stepping forward and kneeling down next to Peg's long head, "okay. I'll stay."

The white surrounding Peg's brown eyes shrank as she watched Aria a long minute. She lay very still, and then she rumbled deep in her chest and shifted her head across the slab she was lying on, inching towards Aria when the other techno-organic didn't move.

Aria startled at the sudden movement, frightened by the way the chords in Peg's neck strained with even this small amount of work. "What are you doing?" Aria demanded, taking two quick steps forward and reaching out to her. But her hands stopped before she touched her, fingers hovering around Peg's face as Aria realized she didn't know what to do.

Peg stopped long enough to blink at her, but it was harder to breath after that. _"I'm," _she struggled to speak, but she still managed to sound put out and petulant even at death's door, _"I'm uncomfortable." _She finally managed, glaring mildly up at the other techno-organic. _"Fix it."_

Aria couldn't help it, a harried laugh escaped her. "Fix it?" Aria asked, voice a little louder now. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" She demanded, wishing very much that she could fix it all right now.

Peg blinked at her again, and for the first time Aria realized she had rectangular pupils. She'd never noticed before.

Peg was still frowning at her, rumbling at her again as one of her legs twitched in an instinctive stamp, but she quickly stopped that.

Her voice was more forced when she finally found the strength to speak again. _"Just because you've got a hard head doesn't mean the rest of you is made of rocks." _She told her with her usual sass. _"You've got a lap, now share it before I decide to bite you."_

"I'd like to see you try." Aria mumbled, but she knelt down in the dirt anyway, sitting on her ankles uncomfortably before she gently shifted Peg's head off the rock and onto her lap. Peg tensed and an animal cry began rolling around in her chest as fractured bones and torn plating shifted unnaturally at the movement, but a deep sigh escaped her battered body when it all stopped.

_"There," _she mumbled in a soft voice, eyes slowly sliding shut as she sagged against Aria's bruised knees, _"that wasn't so hard, was it?"_

Aria sniffed and Peg pretended not to noticed. "You're heavier than I thought you'd be." Aria mumbled, voice low to keep it from cracking. "Obviously I'm not the only one with rocks for brains."

Peg snorted a grim laugh, whuffling in her chest. This was nice, she decided. Obviously she'd prefer not to be dying in the first place, but all in all this wasn't so bad. Aria was here, and she couldn't feel much below her neck now anyway.

Something wet suddenly landed on her cheek, a few inches below her eye. It wasn't raining was it? It had better not be, Peg thought as she slowly forced her eyes open again. Rain would ruin _everything_.

It wasn't raining, but another small wet drop landed on her cheek anyway.

_"Stop it," _Peg ordered the crying girl sternly, tossing her head back with enough force to bump her nose against Aria's side, making her wince. _"You promised you wouldn't cry. It hurts my ears."_

Aria pulled the back of her hand against her wet face, smearing her tears into the dirt coating her from her landing. She pressed her lips together, trying to keep the quiet sobs in, but she just hiccupped instead. "Sorry Peg, sorry," she mumbled, but it took her a moment to remember what Peg was talking about. It felt like ages since they'd been talking in Wheeljack's lab while Nathanial and Wheeljack had worked on the ground bridge plans on the other side of the room.

Peg's single visible eye was pinned on her tear-stained face, but Aria wasn't so sure she could make out her face anymore with the way her pupil kept dilating and constricting.

She didn't look away, but eventually she nudged Aria's side with her nose again, although gentler than before.

_"Do something for me?" _Peg asked, voice soft and unsure.

Aria jerked her head in a nod. "Yes, of course. Anything." She said quickly.

Peg blinked, round eye slowly closing and then, with difficultly, opening again. _"Look after him," _she finally whispered.

Uncertainty crashed down around Aria's head. "Peg..." she tried, not sure if she could do this, even for Peg, "I don't think- it's, it's more complicated than just- he and I-"

Peg's twitched her head to stop her. _"Be his sister then. I don't care. Just-" _the sharpness abruptly faded from her voice, making Peg sound small, _"just look after him. Please?"_

Aria looked down at Peg, heart sinking into the pit of her stomach. Peg had never pleaded like that before. Aria thought she never had in her life.

So Aria nodded. "Alright Peg," she murmured softly, "alright. I'll make sure he'll be okay. For you."

Some last sliver of strength slid out of Peg's spine, making her shudder slightly in relief as she half closed her round eyes again. _"Good." _Aria heard her say. _"That's good."_

She shuddered again as she let the world slide out of focus. Aria watched her, running a hand down her flat cheek without realizing it, feeling the dark, wiry hair of her face before it softened into the leather of her supple nose. All of her attitude was gone now, evaporated into thin air, and for the first time Peg let Aria see her secret self. The quiet, grown up part she didn't like to show off and the child that didn't let the grown up get away with too much. The part that was scared of dying and the one terrified of leaving her man alone for the first time since they'd met. Of being alone herself.

_"I don't want to leave." _Peg whispered, sounding small and scared to Aria's ears.

Aria pulled in a shaky breath, blinking rapidly to try and keep the tears out of her eyes, but they just slid down her face anyway. "I know Peg." She whispered, not trusting her voice to speak any louder.

Peg's large eye unfocused more as she let more of the world slip away from her. _"I'm glad we came here though."_ She whispered.

Aria could barely hear her now. "Me-me too."

Her breath was getting shallower, less consistent. And then with difficulty she dragged in a full lung of air, refocusing her eyes on Aria as he pawed the ground with effort.

_"I'm glad we came back too." _She told her, _had _to tell her.

Aria nodded, biting the inside of her cheek so hard she distantly thought she might bite through it. Her throat was too tight to speak now, so she nodded, the motion dislodging more tears where they had clung to her dirty face. She leaned forward and pressed her wet face against Peg's forehead. She felt the jarring reverberations as Peg tried to suck in air, but more and more often she failed to.

Peg could feel herself slipping away now. Frightened and lonely, she nosed Aria's shoulder, leaving a damp and bloody trail on what was left of her shirt. _"And-and if he does something stupid don't be nice to him." _She stammered breathlessly, afraid of the silence sweeping over her._ "Manners are over- overrated..."_

She fell silent. She pulled in one last breath and Aria caught an image in her mind of fresh grass growing out of gunmetal gray cliffs. Distantly she heard the cries of joyous Equines as they called their sister closer…

…and then Peg was gone.

Stale air left Peg's body in one final gasp and she shuddered before finally falling still.

Aria cried, no longer needing to hold back. The tether line she had always sensed on the edge of her spark was gone now, and the emptiness it left behind was deafening.

Arcee and Val found her there a few cycles later, bent low over Peg's limp frame. They tried to tell her that the the Autobots were pulling out, that the _Ark _was leaving soon, and if she wasn't there it wouldn't wait, but Aria remained still and unresponsive.

Arcee crouched down closer behind her, half reaching towards her sister's back. "Aria...?" she whispered in concern.

"I heard." Arai said, flat voice stopping Arcee before she touched her. "I'm coming."

Arcee shared a worried look with Val where he idled in his alt-mode a few feet away, a near catatonic Nathanial buckled securely to his seat.

With slow, careful movements, Aria moved Peg's head off of her lap and laid her gently down on the ground. She leaned over her and Arcee just barely heard her murmured, "Bye Peg."

And then she didn't linger. Aria stood up and turned towards Arcee, rubbing at her nose briefly.

"Let's get out of here." She muttered.

Arcee didn't argue; just transformed down into her two wheeled alt-mode and waited for Aria to climb into the single seat before speeding away in a rev of engines and lingering dust trails.

...

Prowl was beginning to remember what honest-to-Primus fear felt like, and why he kept such rigid battle protocols that kept him from noticing it while he was on the battlefield.

One by one the ships they could still pick up on their scanners had disappeared, shifting out of phase like a badly programmed holomatter avatar. No one on board the _Eight Track_ could tell what had forced them out of the space bridge tunnel, not even Perceptor, but Prowl was determined to not let it happen to them.

Now only the _Xantium_ was still with them in the tunnel, but even that wouldn't last long. The mechs on board had managed to stop the fire burning on level 21, but enough damage had been done by that and the ever present space bridge energy that Prowl knew they couldn't hold with them for much longer. He didn't know what kind of energy a space bridge emmitted, but Perceptor said it was nothing like he'd ever seen. It degraded a ship's systems even more than an acid wash, eventually leaving it blind and powerless if exposed too long.

The familiar transparency of a solid object being forced out of phase washed over the _Xantium _and before the sensors could register what was happening, the rocket-like ship dropped out of the tunnel.

"The _Xantium's_ gone sir." Silvergate snapped out dutifully, voice tight.

"The space bridge energy has degraded every major system. We have perhaps ten cycles at the outside before we'll be dead in space." Perceptor added. "We need to drop out now while we still have something to repair."

Prowl gripped the arms of his chair tight enough that his digits left little dents in the frame work. He didn't notice. Alpha Trion had said that every space bridge had a matching end point, another bridge out there that held up the other side of the bridge tunnel. He'd also said that dropping out of a space bridge prematurely wrought havoc with a space craft. Perhaps repairable out away from civilization, perhaps not.

"No," Prowl ordered, optics flicking from the science officer to Silvergate, "don't drop out yet. If we do, we guarantee more damage."

"If we stay we guarantee damage." Perceptor answered back.

As if to prove his point, another wave of space bridge energy shot through the _Eight Track_, shaking the ship from stem to stern and making the deck beneath their feet shudder violently.

Perceptor was nearly thrown to the deck where he'd been standing behind another mech at a sensor board. "We need to-" he started to say, but Prowl couldn't make out his voice above the noise of the ship quaking and groaning.

Another wave rolled over them, making lights spark and warning sirens falter before reasserting themselves in glaring out of tune hollering. Prowl held tight to his command chair as he was thrown about like a mini-con crushed in a combiner's grip.

There was a brief lull in the blare of sound as the second wave briefly cancelled out emergency sirens.

"-lost main power. Emergency power won't survive another energy wave-" Silvergate was shouting himself hoarse trying to be heard.

"-sensors read that that the space bridge energy is stronger up ahead. Brace for multiple impacts-"

"-the conflicting energies are beginning to shake us apart!" Percy's high pitched voice finally reached him.

The multiple impacts finally reached them and Prowl felt the _Eight Track_ halt for a nano-klik as each wave rolled over them. Lights popped and monitors exploded outward with the energy surge, making mechs shout as heated glass and wires sprayed over them.

Prowl tried to yell orders to Silvergate over the surge of sound, but nothing got through the din. He tried to get to his feet, only to be shoved back in the chair as another wave ran in to them, making their little ship swing out, away from their straight path through the bridge.

"Course correction! Don't hit the side of the bridge!" Prowl tried to shout as he used the next wave of energy to rocket himself to his feet. He was jerked forward, brought to a sudden stop by the console between Silvergate and another mech, but even right next to them his voice was just one more strain to the noise.

And then suddenly everything went perfectly still. It was just a split second in time, drawn out into relative infinity by the slow moving energy strikes as they all hit the _Eight Track's_ hull at once.

And then time reasserted itself. The energy strikes hit home, only instead of the little ship exploding like reasoning said would happen, the world around it blew outward in a mass of green-yellow energy that slowly settled into the dense black of space, pinpricks of stars the only light outside the viewport.

Venting hard, Prowl looked down at the sensor board beneath his hands. The space bridge was gone, and according to the sensors the only objects around was a large, organic based planet to their right, and a much smaller, metal object directly behind them. Another largely organic planet hung behind the metal object, perhaps an orbit or two of travel from their present location.

Prowl felt his spark pulse once in relief. "The second space bridge." He mumbled to himself, recognizing the shape of the metal object at their back. "We made it through."

With that one fact confirmed, Prowl looked up from the sensor board to see what damage they'd sustained. Shaken mechs lay scattered about the bridge, most thrown from their seats despite their safety restraints. Silvergate was lying unconscious at Prowl's feet, knocked out by that last bolt of energy. The mech stationed at the console next to Prowl held the unconscious Autobot in place so that he hadn't be sent head first into a console base.

But it appeared that his wounds were the worse. None of the other Autobots had been knocked out, although most had sustained some deep dents and one or two had energon leaking from the corners of their mouths.

They were all online though, so Prowl finally turned toward the view screen in front of them to see just where they were...

...only to find himself staring at a field of stars as foreign to him as Earth's.


	43. Chapter 43: Liftoff in 10, 9, 8-

Here we are at last! I'm so excited! Thank you so much Gaia Kame, Bee4ever, Guest, Jimmy 144, L.M.L., Abyss Prime, and Autobot-Bre-Lightblast for your reviews! They make me so happy so thank you! :D

Now hold onto your seats and prepare for liftoff! It's bound to be a bit bumpy...

...

The Long Road Home

43 – Lift Off in 10, 9, 8- – 43

Nathanial hadn't made a sound since Arcee and Val had found him wandering around the Wastes. He sat silent in Val's cab, staring off into space, lifeless, even when the bumpy road sent his head into the low roof of the armored vehicle's cab hard enough that Val knew it had to hurt.

It was starting to freak Val out.

"Hey," Val's voice was tight when it came from his radio inside the cab, "_hey!_ Snap out of it!"

Val gave the man a mild jolt of static and Nathanial started at the electric contact. He came enough out of his shock to turn his eyes vaguely in the direction of Val's dashboard. "Wha-?" He murmured, dazed.

"I _said _snap out of it!" Val told him, voice raising slightly. "You lose your head now and you'll be seeing your friend again real quick."

Maybe it was a heartless thing to say, but Val remembered the crush of emotion that had swamped him when his own guardian had died back when he'd been small. How easy it had been to just slip into the void, away from the angry swells of confusion and hurt and the sudden ache of loss. When Treads had died, Val had felt it almost half the world away. He'd been just a kid, unable to handle that kind of abrupt emptiness, and he'd fallen to the ground like a puppet with cut strings as soon as his spark registered the loss. He'd been in a coma for orbits before finally coming out of it, and that only because of Aria's close presence and Ratchet's unrivaled medical skill.

Val inwardly huffed as he realized that – in a stroke of madness he was sure – he empathized with the human too much to blame him for what was happening. Besides, if Prime was right (and Val had no reason to doubt that he was) then Megatron would have gotten this lens even if Nathanial hadn't had it. Maybe it was just their own twisted luck that the human was here.

"Look, I know it sucks but you've got to get yourself together," he told the human sternly as they neared Iacon's borders, "at least until the _Ark's _through the space bridge," he added quietly, "then you can go to however many pieces you like."

Nathanial didn't answer, just rubbed at his face with both hands. Val kept an optic on him as he shook himself, trying to keep his mind grounded in the now. But Peg had left a hole and it was difficult to pretend it wasn't there...

They crossed into Iacon proper, the cab jolting slightly as Val's wheels found proper pavement again. He and Arcee sped up briefly on the straight causeway that cut straight through the city's outer rim, only to slow down again as the angled streets led them deeper into Iacon. The _Ark_ sat near the city's heart, which meant he had about ten cycles to convince Nat that now was not the time to grieve.

Val relaxed just slightly as the tall buildings rose protectively over them, shielding them from Decepticon sensors. In the relative safety of the city, Val let his sensors sweep over Arcee and the human passenger gripping her handlebars. Aria's knuckles were white and her face was grim as she stared ahead at the blackened city without seeing it. Without a helmet to cover her head, her brown hair was flying back away from her face as Arcee sped onward. He didn't have the extensive, inset medical scanners that Ratchet had, but even Val could tell her spark-heart was beating too fast as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Val swallowed down his pride. Things weren't about to get any easier either. "Listen," his voice was low in the small space of the cab, but Nathanial heard him, "I know she doesn't like to admit it, after what you did," he muttered, "but she still wants to trust you. And she likes you, despite your earlier stupidity. So just," he sighed, realizing he _must_ be crazy, "just try and remember that when you get out of here."

Something must have made it past Nathanial's shock because he blinked in confusion and frowned at the radio set into the dashboard. "Did you just..." he trailed off, eyebrows creasing closer together over his eyes, "give me some sort of blessing?" He asked raising both his eyebrows at the radio despite everything.

"No." Came the automatic reply. Then a quickly added. "Maybe. Just shut up!"

A humorless snort of laughter made it past Nathanial's grief, surprising him as much as Val. He reached up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, his head starting to pound now as he leaned his head sideways against the driver's side window. "Aria's going to be fine Val. She's tougher than she looks. She'll grieve and then she'll get better. That's just how it works."

He got the distinct impression Val was scowling at him, although how he did when he didn't have eyes Nathanial wasn't sure. "I know that," the mech huffed, "I know that better than anybody. It's just..." he paused, voice growing softer, "this is a lot for anybody- for _everybody_ to take in."

A humid sigh vented from his cab vents, making the air inside hotter than Nathanial liked, but he had bigger things on his mind right then to really notice. It was slowly dawning on that Val was worried. About Aria, sure, but to a smaller extent about him too. Him. Of all people.

Go figure.

Nathanial cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. The fact that Val was actually concerned about him made him...well it made him uncomfortable. It was just another sign of an already messed up day.

"Listen," Nat started to say, discomfort obvious, "Val-" he hesitated. He didn't have anything he wanted to say.

"And don't get too comfortable up there either," Val interrupted before Nat had to think of something, "the Wreckers aren't going to be stuck down here forever you know. Give it a couple orns and we'll be hot on your afterburners. We just gotta make sure the rest of you get off planet in one piece. And it'll be easier for smaller groups like us n'the femmes to fly out under the Decepticon's radar. Well, at least in theory anyway…" he muttered that last part somewhat worriedly. There were far too many 'ifs' in this equation for his liking, but the Wrecker in him wouldn't let him admit that out loud.

"The Decepticons will never know what hit them." Nathanial agreed.

The were almost to the _Ark's _garage now. Val turned one last corner, Arcee and her finer sensors just up ahead, keeping an optic out for any Decepticons that might have made it this far into Iacon. It wouldn't have been the first time one of them had.

The two mechs were silent for a stretch, neither feeling talkative when they were so close to their destination.

But Val couldn't help but add in a quiet voice. "And…I'll make sure Peg gets a proper burial and all too."

Nathanial ducked his head down before he managed a nod to show he'd heard. "Thanks." He said putting a hand to his head as if to steady it. "Just, just be careful Val. I don't think Aria can take another blow like Bumblebee or Wheeljack."

Val found his bravado again and put it on thick. "Who? Me? Pfft, don't kid yourself human. I'm gonna be fine."

For the first time since he'd pulled the man out of the rubble, Nathanial put on a tight grin for the armored vehicle. "Yeah, you'd better, or I'll dismantle you and hide your body where Aria will never find it." He told him, but his eyes were still hard from Peg's sudden death.

Val snorted. "In your dreams human." He told him as his sensors picked up the familiar doorways in the buildings in front of him. He followed Arcee's smaller frame into the shadowed doorway of a nondescript parking garage, her pink alt-mode disappearing quickly into the gloom of the concrete. He stopped just inside the first level, ignoring the broken gate arm that lay on the ground. He idled briefly in the shadows, giving the security measures a good long look so they could recognize his spark signature.

A green line sprung out of the ceiling and methodically traveled down over their alt-modes before running back up.

_"Identities confirmed."_ Teletraan's gravelly voice came over his comm._"Entrance granted. Liftoff of the _Ark_ to commence in twenty point four cycles. Passengers make your way to your assigned areas immediately."_

"Well, I guess this is it." Val said in resignation as Nathanial opened the cab door and stepped out. His legs felt odd, not quite attached to his body. He frowned down at his boots and wondered if that was because of the sudden loss of his tether bond or because he'd smacked his head harder than he thought when Skywarp had knocked them out of the sky.

Anger suddenly boiled past his shock, the first thing he'd properly felt since Peg had died. No, he corrected himself, since she'd been murdered.

Nathanial hoped that that blasted jet _did_ make it off of Cybertron. Energon depravation was just too good for him-

A careful shove brought him out of his dark thoughts and he looked up to see Val standing over him in his robotic form. From the look on the young Wrecker's faceplates, he knew _exactly_ what Nat was thinking.

He didn't say anything about it though. Instead all he said was, "Don't do anything stupid til I get out there."

Nathanial shook his head at the Wrecker, dry humor barely visible on his face. "You're one to talk." He muttered.

Val just fixed him with a stern, blue optic. Clearly he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Nathanial shook his head at the green-brown mech. "Right, fine," he agreed, and then quickly pointed a stern finger up at Val, "but if I got to behave, then so do you. So, you know," he stuttered, suddenly feeling a little foolish, "don't die."

Val vented a laugh but said, "Deal," before Nat could rethink what he'd said.

"Well," he said slowly when Val didn't say anything else, "until then Val."

Val nodded, suddenly solemn. "Later Nat."

Suddenly feeling like he was intruding, Nathanial stepped a few feet farther into the shadows, staying close while giving the three space. Aria had her arms wrapped around Arcee's neck, the femme crouched down so she could hug her sister back. This was the second time Aria had had to leave Arcee. Privately Nathanial wondered if that made it easier or harder to do again.

They didn't let go until Teletraan's voice came from the ceiling, making them all look up. _"Attention Autobots; The _Ark_ will depart in fifteen cycles. Make your way to your assigned areas immediately."_

"You need to go." Val told Aria softly when the announcement was over.

Aria jerked her head in a nod, but didn't turn to leave. "I'll-I'll see you guys again." She told them, as much to reassure herself as Arcee and Val.

Arcee nodded. Her optics were filled with coolant and for once she didn't try to hide it. "We know. Take care of yourself until then, okay?"

Aria nodded. And then unable to bring herself to leave without once more embrace, she stepped forward and flung her arms around as much of the two bots as she could reach.

Val and Arcee had already leaned down to wrap their hands carefully around her smaller form.

"Bye Jie Mei." Val whispered.

"Love you." Arcee added.

Aria's throat was raw as she whispered back, "I love you guys too."

And that was it; there wasn't anything more she could say. She could tell them to be careful, but she already knew they would, at least as much as they were able. She could try and tell them how much she cared about them, but she knew she wouldn't be able to put it into words and that they knew it instinctively anyway.

Her spark-heart fluttered as something – some feeling she couldn't name – thundered down her spine like an electric river. Tentative bonds that had always been half there suddenly fell into place, locking around her with the sudden rush of emotion that she could only assume came with new bonds.

She wasn't sure how they did that – Ratchet had always warned her against forming new bonds because unlike Cybertronians she had nothing to give back in return. Sure her spark was all her own, but it was only half a spark; she needed all of it working in concert with her heart to keep her body working.

If Arcee and Val's sparks felt any smaller inside their chests, they didn't mention it, and Aria couldn't feel any regret along their new lines. Sadness, worry, fear of what was waiting for them here on Cybertron and the unknown that was waiting for their oldest sister out in the galaxy – that she could feel, but no regret at letting her in.

And even all that was a distant second to their love, and their belief that they would see her again. They didn't know when, didn't know how, just believed with absolute certainty that they would.

That certainty tied itself in a golden, glowing knot around her, strong enough to outlast Cybertron – outlast Shockwave and Megatron and dark energon – and because of it Aria was finally able to let go of Val and Arcee.

Around them, the building began to tremble, not because of air strikes raining down on them like they had expected, but from below, the tremors rising up from deep beneath their feet.

"The _Ark's _powering up," Arcee figured it out, "you don't have a lot of time Aria. You need to go."

Aria nodded, watching them with wet eyes, but no more tears fell down her face. "See you soon." She promised.

Arcee nodded, Val grinned, reassured by her presence in his spark even as she turned away and sprinted off into the shadows of the garage, Nathanial close behind her.

Val stood up from where he'd knelt down to be closer to Aria's eye level, only to trigger his t-cog and collapse down in his armored vehicle alt-mode.

"Well," his voice crackled over Arcee's comm. line. "Shall we?" He invited, his smug grin obvious even through the radio.

The only answer Arcee gave him was the sound of her transformation and the challenging rev of her engine before she raced off for the Iacon border. Grinning to himself, Val tore after her, heavily armored vehicle mode cutting the distance between them in seconds. The Decepticons were coming for Iacon now – he could feel it. Just like he could feel the upcoming battle was going to be nothing short of legendary.

...

Ironhide and Chromia were still ten miles out from Iacon and with every mile they cleared they grew closer and closer to the dividing point. They were so close now that Chromia could practically feel it in her core, like a bullet worming its way closer to her spark chamber, ready to sever her spark and send her back to the Well of AllSparks.

_"Slag Megatron!"_ Chromia thought as her spark roiled furiously in her chest. _"Slag dark energon! And slag Primus for not preventing this in the first place!"_

She ignored the slight twinge of guilt at the sacrilegious thought as she and Ironhide drove away from the Mitteous Plateau at high speeds, dirt and dust flying out behind their wheels before settling slowly to the ground in their wake.

As angry as the femme was with...well, pretty much everything happening to her, her sparkmate, and her home, it wasn't a nuisance when the Decepticons ambushed them to block the road; it was a relief.

"Bring it on Con-scum!" The blue and silver motorbike yelled, revving her engine at the Decepticons in a challenge.

The biggest one there – and the only one with violet optics – gave his answer in a roar that was more beast than mech.

Chromia threw herself forward with a shout, the dark con lumbering forward to meet her, over-long arms swinging at his sides and his talons gouging out trails in the dusty earth. Shutting out the trepidation in her core, Chromia pressed more speed from her engine, and then when the dark con was close enough she could see the fine red lines that circled his violet irises, she threw her alt-mode sideways and triggered her transformation process.

She slid forward, kicking up clouds of grit and dust that fogged the Decepticon's vision. He roared again, trying to shield his optics as he swung his too-long arms wildly about, searching for her. But unable to see, he missed her shifting frame by a foot on each side.

Chromia's face was set in a hard expression by the time she came to a stop, fully transformed and weapons fully charged, right behind the dark Decepticon. She felt the largest con's brief second of confusion while he wondered where his enemy had gotten to, but it ended quickly as Ironhide's shot slammed into his scored chest armor.

The dark con roared again and charged at Ironhide, but Chromia didn't stop to watch as she tore into the three other Decepticons with her miniature ion cannon. And when they got too close for her to blast 'em, she put it away and used all of the pent up energy she had in her to sock the nearest one in the faceplates, cracking denta and making energon fly.

The first one stumbled back holding his mouth and then Chromia lost sight of him as her vision tunneled to focus solely on the new threat coming at her. Not very smart of a guardsfemme, but then she hadn't been part of the guard for a very long time now.

She grabbed the new mech by the back of the neck with both hands and threw her knee into his stomach, doubling him over and leaving him gasping through his coolant fans just long enough for her to twist his neck and sever that vital link between spark and central processor.

Before his frame could finish flopping to the ground in an unnatural, boneless, motion, Chromia ducked, darted, and spun as she closed the distance between her and the last Decepticon standing. He didn't even have time to wonder what was going on before sharp energon blades snapped out of her wrist guards and sliced clean through his chest armor, cleaving his spark underneath.

_"Only one left," _Chromia thought.

She finished her spin with her ion cannon engaged, the small, blue white mouth taking the place of her right hand and aimed dead center at the Decepticon she'd punched in the face.

The last mech still alive was on the ground where she'd left him, shaking as he held his face and stared at her with bright red optics.

A guttural shout made her head snap around before she could finish the Decepticon. The mech had enough sense to scrabble to his feet and throw himself into his alt-mode before she remembered him. In less than a klik there was nothing left of him except a roiling dust cloud as he tore across the planet's surface.

Chromia didn't notice. The shout had been Ironhide and her optics widened in fear as she saw that the dark con, tired of the Autobot shooting him in the chest, had lunged forward, swinging his too-long arms with enough force to cut a lesser bot in half with one go.

Ironhide jumped backward with a grunt and the monster's talons crashed into the ground, gouging out four identical trenches in Cybertron's worn out surface.

The dark Decepticon screamed something, but given his questionable mental state it was impossible to tell if the scream was a curse or just wordless frustration. Before he closed his mouth, he shifted his weight, swinging his long arms sideways towards Ironhide faster than before.

The Autobot tried to move, but he was too slow compared to the dark energon fueled bot. He leaned backwards and managed to miss the first set of talons by a hair, but he'd leaned too far back and lost his balance. As he fell, the mech lunged forward and buried his other set of claws high in Ironhide's chest.

Chromia felt her spark freeze. She was already running to help, but the 'con moved so fast it felt like she was moving in slow motion.

The Decepticon missed Ironhide's spark chamber by inches, but that was cold comfort as he dragged his claws upward, grazing the big mech's neck and leaving half his face in ruins.

Ironhide shouted as he finished falling, finally leaving the Decepticon's reach as he hit the ground hard enough to bounce. Most of the facial plating on his right side was damaged and bright green energon was flowing freely into his ruined optic from where the mech had nicked a small artery in his head.

Guffawing to itself, the Decepticon leaned down and grabbed her sparkmate by the throat and lifted him off the ground with one hand, leaving Ironhide's feet to dangle above the ground.

"Ironhide!"

Even this damaged, Ironhide had enough sense to cant his head to one side to keep the 'con from crushing the main fuel line in his neck. As Chromia ran, he grabbed the other mech's wrist in both hands with a vice-like grip, thumbs jammed between wrist plating into the pressure point just underneath. The Decepticon's hand should have snapped open like he'd just pushed a button, but the con's hand only opened a fraction.

_"Slag Prowl and his mettalikato points. I told him they didn't work!"_

Abandoning subtlety, Ironhide let go of the Decepticon's large wrist with one hand, his own weight dragging him down just enough he could feel the pressure start to block his fuel line, and transformed his hand and most of his forearm into a massive cannon. There was a brief second whine of startup, and then he unloaded what power he had left into the Decepticon's chest at point blank range.

The slagger hardly even stepped backward as his chest armor warped. Like Ironhide might as well have just hit him with a dodge ball...

A sudden scream hit the mechs' audios and got even the Decepticon's attention. He looked up to see where the noise was coming from, and then jolted forward as Chromia landed on his back and skewered his neck with an energon blade.

The dark 'con tried to look down at the sharp, crackling thing now sticking out of his throat, but he couldn't get his head to move more than a twitch. A low keen started to come from him, roughened by static around the edges as his vocorder degraded. Ironhide was still struggling in his grip and Chromia was trying to pull her energon blade back, but the 'con didn't seem to notice either Autobot.

Ironhide watched with his undamaged optic as the 'con's optics flickered, and then drained of purple light. But then, Ironhide thought dimly, that might have been his own circulation getting cut off and he was starting to see things...

A few seconds later he landed with enough force on the ground to shock most of his systems into automatic restart. The big Autobot sat there, one hand holding the torn side of his face, as the Decepticon's body wavered and then finally crashed to the ground.

Chromia was kneeling on his back, the blade ending at her wrist still buried in the Decepticon's throat. It refused to retract. Even when she jerked her whole body back it hardly budged.

Violet energy was starting to crackle up the length of the energon powered blade-

"Slaggit!" Chromia screamed as streaks of violet static arced up and snapped at her hand. She finally abandoned the blade and cut it from her frame before the dark energon could swallow her up too.

She stumbled back away from the Decepticon, holding her blade arm close to her chest like it stung. She shook it out, face frustrated and furious and more than a little scared as she stretched her digits just to make sure she still could.

By now Ironhide's systems had finished balancing his circulation and he was sitting up, hacking as energon returned to the rest of his frame.

Chromia was kneeling in front of him instantly, peering into his face as she inspected the damage.

"'Mia, '_Mia,_" Ironhide repeated when she wouldn't stop fussing, "Ah'm _fine_. I can still see outta it. Mostly..."

Chromia scowled at him. "Fine my aft."

Ironhide went still at her tone. "Yeesh 'Mia," he eventually muttered as he turned his head to survey her work with his good optic, "if I didn't know any better I'd say you were fragged about sumthin'."

"Shut up and hold still," she snapped, optics not leaving his face yet. Soon enough she leaned back and sighed and shuttered her optics in relief. "Most of the plating damage is superficial," she told him, spark easing in her chest. "Ratchet can fix it just fine. Your optic though..."

She frowned, forehead creasing in worry as she tilted his head down so she could get a better look, eliciting a sharp hiss from Ironhide.

"Ow ow _ow_, 'Mia _stop_."

The femme humphed but released his head. "Big sparkling..." she chided him, but there wasn't any force in it.

Ironhide carefully reached up and touched what little plating was left around his optic. He flinched as the pain spiked briefly and then subsided just as quickly.

"Ah well," he muttered with a sigh, "just another scar for the collection."

Chromia, hand still raised to smack his hand away from the wound, froze before she could follow through.

Ironhide stared at her. "What?"

Chromia was still staring at his damaged optic. Gently she reached over and lightly touched the side of it. He flinched only slightly, but was too busy watching her to move away.

"Five mechs..." she murmured.

For a moment Ironhide wondered what she was talking about. And then he remembered the details from Core's supposed vision of their future. Their younguns grown with their own younguns running all around. Chromia, blue accents frosted with age, was still beautiful as she took the sparkling from his femme-creator.

And him, sitting as he watched them all because his joints ached, with a scar running through his right optic.

Hs optics widened, making energon flow into his damaged one anew, as he realized what Chromia already had.

"And a femme." He finished, sounding just as dazed as she did.

And then he broke into a wide grin and pulled Chromia towards him. She wrapped her arms around her sparkmate's neck as they shared one last, electric goodbye kiss, grinning like idiots all the while.

Neither could tell you if they thought this vision-thing was brilliant or stupid. Ironhide wasn't foolish enough to assume their future was engraved in stone, and Chromia wasn't even sure if she believed the Core could give bots visions in the first place.

But then again, if one part had already come true, who were they to say the rest wouldn't?

The eventually drew apart, but stayed close enough that they could lean their helms together.

"Keep yourself in one piece until I get out there 'Hide." Chromia told him.

Ironhide chuckled. "See ya soon baby."

They disentangled themselves soon after and collapsed down into their respective alt-modes before tearing off in opposite directions. Chromia, towards the roiling battlefield of Altihex where Decepticons and Elita-One alike waited, and Ironhide towards Iacon where the _Ark_ waited impatiently at its center, steam already beginning to curl around its glowing thrusters.

...

Aria and Nathanial ran through the _Ark's_ massive hallways towards the center of the ship, the sound of their feet against the hard floor lost in the steady wail of the claxon. Above them, Teletraan's voice continued to drone on, repeating the crew instructions just in case someone hadn't heard. Although how someone could have missed the deep, grating voice Aria couldn't comprehend.

The ship hadn't exactly been made for humans, but with the remnants of Quintessonian cockpits and cabs still littered throughout Cybertronian alt-modes, it hadn't been difficult for Grapple to install seats and safety harnesses based on their design for Aria and Nat. That's where they were running now. They needed to be buckled in before the _Ark_ lifted off otherwise they'd just end up pancaked to the back wall with the force.

They were out of breath by the time they reached the hold, but they hardly slowed as they jogged across the large, crowded room and quickly buckled in, pulling roughly-made harnesses over their heads and locking them securely into place.

Aria jerked the lower bar of her restraints to make sure it had locked and it gave a sharp clang of resistance. She leaned her head back against the wall behind her and expelled a shaky breath of air as she realized there was nothing left to do but wait.

They must have been the last ones to arrive because there wasn't another empty seat in the room. But despite the twenty or so mechs already strapped in, the place was eerily quiet. No one had anything to say, Aria supposed, but the silence still set her teeth on edge. Gave her too much space to think and remember the feeling of Arcee and Val holding her as they said goodbye, or the heavy weight of Peg's head in her lap...

Aria grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, the surge of helplessness threatening to overpower her again. Not able to think straight, she purposefully bumped her head against the wall, jolting the images to a hard stop, but that hardly made them vanish from her head.

_"I'm never going to see them again, am I?" _She realized, the thought making her heart stutter as she clung tighter to the dimming sense of Val and Arcee. _"That was it. That was the last time I'll ever get to talk to them. No more time, no more stories, no more anything because I'm leaving them to di-"_

A hand suddenly wrapping tight around hers stopped her from finishing that thought. Aria jumped at the contact, her shoulders banging into the immovable harness.

She looked over to see Nathanial looking back at her around the edge of his blocky restraints. He looked white under his layer of dirt and his dark eyes were hard to make out in the dim light of the room, but Aria still thought he looked like he knew exactly what she'd been thinking.

He squeezed her hand briefly, not looking away. "Hey," he said, voice low but still loud in the quiet of the room, "It's going to be okay."

She didn't know if she could believe him, but then she wasn't sure if he believed it himself. But she needed to hear it either way.

Aria swallowed down her disbelief and wrapped her fingers more securely around his, not wanting to let go. Above them, Teletraan's voice rang out over the loud speakers, signaling that the final liftoff sequence was about to start.

Aria tilted her head back against the wall of the _Ark_ again and closed her eyes, her free hand gripping her restraints so hard that her fingers turned white. She had a feeling she was going to hate this part.

_"All crew members," _Teletraan intoned, _"prepare for liftoff in 10, 9, 8-"_

...

On the mountainous plains that surrounded Altihex, the last battle for Cybertron raged on. Ultra Magnus and his Wreckers fought back the Decepticon storm on the west side of the city while Elita-One and her femmes attacked from the east. Even combined, their numbers were nothing compared to the larger Decepticon forces. But then this battle wasn't about numbers, it was about time. And how much they could buy for the rest of the bots still in Iacon.

Ultra Magnus knew they wouldn't be able to push back the Decepticons altogether, just like he knew that one way or another the enemy would sack Iacon before Moon Base I appeared over the horizon. What he didn't know was how many Autobots would be left in the city when the Decepticons finally crashed over it. So he kept up the fight, giving stragglers enough time to make that number as small as possible.

Another over-sized Vehicon with violet optics charged the Wrecker commander, roaring like a gyro-bear as he towered over the Autobot, massive sword raised to strike Magnus down.

Ultra Magnus shifted his hold on his infamous war hammer and swung it up and around with all of his not-inconsiderable strength. It hit the Vehicon in the side of his head, making him falter as something broke inside, sending energon spraying out his mouth.

It was a blow that would have finished an average mech, but with the way dark energon blocked a bot's pain receptors, the Vehicon didn't stop when he hit the ground. Instead he went to one knee and changed the arc of his swing, his sword slicing the air where the Autobot's knees had been.

Magnus had already moved, back stepping to put space between him and the Vehicon as he lifted his hammer high, the sensitive circuitry inlaid in the handle catching the electric currents always present in Cybertron's sky and calling it to the war hammer like a lightning rod. Forks of lightning struck the hammer as the Vehicon struggled to his feet. He raised his sword and charged with a roar that would have struck dread in a lesser Autobot, but Magnus was less than impressed.

Especially when a stray flash of lightning struck the Vehicon's raised sword instead of the hammer and electrocuted him on the spot, the sword lacking his war hammer's nonconductive grip.

The Vehicon fell as the electricity overloaded his circuits and dropped him to the ground with a definitive _thud_, his own momentum making him slide to a stop at Ultra Magnus' feet.

_ "Well that was anticlimactic."_ Ultra Magnus thought as he turned to inspect the battle field around him. The Wreckers had managed to push the Decepticons back for perhaps a twenty meter stretch, getting close enough to the city to leave scorch marks and crumbling gaps in the Altihex's protective wall.

He swiftly collapsed down into his alt-mode, roaring forward to close the distance between him and the rest of the fighting. He glanced at his inward chronometer as his engine drowned out all other sound. Only a few nano-kliks until the _Ark_ and everyone on it would be driving through Cybertron's atmosphere for the space bridge.

Something close to regret snapped at the edges of Ultra Magnus' spark, but it was brief as his long held reserve reappeared. He'd never been close with his younger brother. They hardly knew each other really, especially before the war had started. He'd practically ignored him when they'd been younger, and Orion Pax hadn't been old enough to notice before Magnus was assigned his place in the military caste and left home.

Their guardian Magnum had been terribly fond of the little mech – which Magnus could admit now had rankled him when he'd been younger – and had shared a strong bond with his second charge as Orion grew, but there had never been any connection between Orion and Magnus, not even a ghost link through their shared guardian.

Others thought it was strange – the less kind ones even going so far as to suggest that perhaps Ultra Magnus had shunned any kind of brother bond outright – but Ultra Magnus never had. Of course there wouldn't be any sibling-bond between them; they both hadn't imprinted on Magnum when they'd come out of the Well. Ultra Magnus wasn't even sure that Orion Pax _had_ come out of the Well. He had never found out why exactly, but Magnum had lied to everyone, including Orion Pax, about the little bot's origins.

And since the old guardmech's death several vorns ago now, Ultra Magnus was one of only two that knew the truth; that the old Archivist Alpha Trion had brought the sparkling Orion Pax to Magnum specifically to be cared for.

Ultra Magnus had never asked his guardian why he had lied, and Magnum had never explained. He supposed he could go ask Alpha Trion for answers. The old mech must have seen _something,_ known _something_ about Orion Pax's origins that no one else, not even Orion himself, had ever figured out. However Magnus had the strong feeling that the Archivist would deny everything if he asked.

But perhaps their isolation on Cybertron would give Magnus the time to figure out how to convince him otherwise.

For now though...for now Ultra Magnus just hoped that whatever it was – whatever Alpha Trion had seen in Optimus that Magnus had missed – it would be enough to get them through their impending exile.

_"Good luck brother." _Ultra Magnus thought earnestly before jumping back into the battle and lashing out at the nearest Decepticon that had a grudge to settle.

...

_"-7, 6, 5-"_

...

On the other side of Altihex, Elita was doing much the same. In her spark though, she was keenly aware of the time. Patched into Teletraan's countdown, she couldn't help but watch as the numbers ticked down in slow motion. Only four seconds left. Four seconds until her sparkmate, and every other mech on the _Ark,_ would be gone.

If there had been any other way she would have snatched at it in sparkbeat. It was just that after all this time apart – separated by duties and responsibilities to others that they couldn't escape – and _still _they would be separated. And after only four orns together.

It felt like the universe was laughing at them.

This high up the mountains around Altihex, Elita could make out Iacon in the distance across the empty plains that stretched between the two cities. A diffused orange light could be seen glowing near its heart now, spreading towards the edges of the city as the _Ark's_ thrusters powered up, the numbers on Teletraan's chrono growing smaller as the light grew brighter.

A small part of her spark hardened, unspeakably angry at what was happening to them. But she had to hope that she'd see him again. That one day they wouldn't have to continually put each other and their bond second to the Autobot cause. Because if she didn't...

Elita sighed, forcibly relaxing her hand where she had clenched it into a fist. If she didn't then she would have to wonder what had been the point of all those sacrifices she'd already made. What was she fighting for if not the right to just live her life without outside interference?

The orange glow of the _Ark's _thrusters was growing brighter when she looked up again with heavy optics.

_"Be safe Beloved."_

...

_"-4, 3-"_

...

Something was wrong. Megatron realized it as soon as he made it to the top of Altihex's defensive wall and saw the fighting playing out down below him around the city. The Autobots were outnumbered almost five to one and even with the Wreckers making up the main part of the enemy forces, they didn't have a chance at victory.

Which meant they were after something else, some other goal Megatron hadn't considered yet.

He scanned the battlefield with narrowed optics, trying to find a hint as to what their objective was. Whatever it was, this was a desperate move on their part. To pitch themselves head long into battle despite the overwhelming number of dark Decepticons...

Red and blue movement caught his attention and Megatron smiled slightly. Perhaps he should go down and ask Optimus Prime directly what he thought to achieve with this desperate attack.

His smug smile died when he saw it wasn't Optimus he had seen out of the corner of his optic, but the Wrecker commander Ultra Magnus. He was buried in the thick of it, surrounded by dark Decepticons, but despite that he hardly seemed worried as he swung his great hammer, creating holes in the Decepticon lines. It seemed to Megatron's trained optic that he fought as if he'd already won...

A thought occurred to the former gladiator and Megatron's optics went wide. He spun around, optics searching the hills where the femmes' last location had been reported. Yes, there she was, he thought as he magnified his view of the Altihex mountains, singling out the dark pink frame of Elita-One. She had hung back from the rest of the Autobot femmes and was staring out at Iacon, barely seen in the distance.

Megatron's disbelief strengthened. Why hadn't he seen it earlier? How had any of them missed what was so blatantly obvious?!

"No," the word escaped him, "_No!_" This could not be happening! Not when they were so slaggin' _close_ to crushing the Autobots once and for all!

"Starscream!" Megatron shouted into his comm. line, already pounding his way down the Altihex wall. "Block Iacon's airspace _now_! The Autobots are attempting to escape."

He closed the line without bothering to wait for an affirmative from the air commander, already opening another as he threw a Decepticon off the wall when he didn't have enough processing power to get out of his way.

"Shockwave, have Soundwave prepare the _Nemesis _for liftoff immediately!" He shouted at his head scientist.

Shockwave's voice was cloaked by heavy static as he answered from out in the Wastes. _"Lord Megatron, the preparations are not yet complete. Only half the supplies are onboard and only a quarter of the troops you requested."_

"Good enough," Megatron snapped back, "we will return for the rest after we have stopped Optimus Prime and the other Autobots from reaching the space bridge. They must not be allowed to leave Cybertron!"

The line closed with a click as Megatron reached the end of the defensive wall. Not thinking twice, he leapt off, transforming in mid air into his third and final form – a gunmetal gray jet with impressive speed and even better fire power. He'd only just discovered he even had a second alt-mode. Apparently dark energon had more advantages then Shockwave had first discovered.

Thrusters roaring, he drove hard for Iacon. Optimus would not be allowed to escape him now.

...

_"-2-"_

...

The whole ship was shuddering around them as the _Ark_ powered up for takeoff. Strapped securely into his seat, Smokescreen had squeezed his optics shut as he tried hard not to think about just exactly how many tons of explosives he was sitting on top of.

Bluestreak sitting next to him wasn't making that any easier.

"-can't believe we found this much rocket fuel in the first place. Can you imagine how _old_ some of this stuff's got to be? I mean, the dust was so thick in that warehouse that all the boxes looked like they'd grown a fur coat-"

Smokescreen squeezed his optic shutters closed even tighter. _"Oh Primus..."_ he groaned internally.

"-and just think that it still works after all that time!" Bluestreak continued on, too nervous himself to be aware of his neighbor's frame of mind. "At least I _think _it'll work. Wheeljack uses old energy sources all the time and it's always worked for him. Sometimes it works too well even!" He gave a nervous laugh.

_"We're all gonna die." _Smokescreen thought morbidly.

"I heard him tell Percy once that sometimes the old stuff gets so unstable that even the slightest thing'll set it off. I think he was trying to explain how he always ended up blowing himself up so much, but Perce wasn't buying it." Bluestreak suddenly gasped as a thought occurred to him. "Oh gosh! What if the fuel we found was unstable? I didn't think of that. I was just so relieved we found enough in the first place. What d'you think will happen if it blows up when it's not supposed to? We'll all probably end up in a million tiny pieces around Iacon I guess won't we? Although I guess then we wouldn't have to worry about the Decepticons though..."

Smokescreen felt himself go green under his white paintjob at the thought of being exploded into a million tiny pieces. "I think I'm gonna be sick." He finally muttered, and then closed his mouth as he tried not to heave.

Bluestreak just tilted his head at him curiously. "Why? You nervous about something?"

Smokescreen just groaned.

...

_"-1-"_

...

The air in the _Ark's_ command deck was just as tense as it was down in the hold, but Optimus couldn't deny there was the slightest thrill of excited electricity in the air as well. Sideswipe kept fidgeting in the pilot's seat, digits releasing and curling around the yoke as he stared out the wide viewport at the sky above them, anxious for liftoff. Jazz was so anxious to be gone that Optimus thought that the only thing keeping him in his chair were the safety restraints crossed over his chest. Hound was less enthused where he sat pressed back in his seat, optics flicking between the constellations he recognized. He had relied on them often as a military tracker, using them to guide him home.

Ratchet was the only one that did not appear impressed. He sat in his seat, glaring out at the stars, and occasionally snorting grumpily through his vents. He did not want to leave Cybertron. He'd made that very clear to Optimus and anyone else that even glanced at him.

For his own part, Optimus just felt an overwhelming sadness. So much was at stake and there was so little chance that they would succeed. For all he knew, he was leading the Autobots to their death instead of victory.

The _Ark_ rumbled around them, the sound of its boosters powering up thunder in their audios. Over the noise, Teletraan's voice could still be heard as he counted down.

_"-in 10, 9, 8, 7-"_

Jazz couldn't hold it in anymore. "Woo yeah! Galaxy here we come!" He shouted over the noise, settling himself deeper into his chair in anticipation.

_"-6, 5, 4,3, 2-" _Teletraan droned on.

Optimus closed his optics, not wanting to see the stars as they rushed towards them at the moment of take off. He felt Elita reach out to him across the distance between them and he briefly reached back. They'd said their goodbyes the night before and had agreed that given the immense distance that would separate them, it would be best if they buried their bond until they were together again. Otherwise their sparks would be constantly reaching for the other, stretching out and spreading themselves too thin and opening them up to spark shock.

They didn't like it; Optimus loathed the idea, but he knew it wouldn't be forever. It was the only thing that let him even consider it in the first place.

_"Be safe Beloved."_

The ghostly words drifted over their bond, and for a moment, Optimus held tighter to her.

_"I'll find you again," _he told Elita, _"I promise."_

_"I know."_ She whispered back. And then his sense of her dimmed as she shuttered their connection, preparing for the long time apart.

Spark clenching, Optimus did the same.

_"-1." _Teletraan droned.

_"Please let this work." _Optimus thought.

...

_"Liftoff."_


	44. Chapter 44: You're Going to Lose

Woohoo! I'm on time for once. Yay! And I found Aerialbot Kreons today at Target after searching for them for a year. Double yay! :D

Right, so prepare for a long one and thank you so much to my reviewers from last time Gaia Kame, Autobot-Bre-Lightblast, Jimmy 144, Bee4ever, and L.M.L.! All of your reviews made my day but I especially loved the comments from Gaia Kame and L.M.L. I'm glad someone out there likes Optimus' and Ultra Magnus' being brothers. I wrote that when I had just discovered Transformers and didn't realize that in most continuities, that isn't actually true, so yay. I'm glad people like it.

And also L.M.L.! Omega Supreme you ask? Well I'll give you some Omega Supreme! You just gotta be patient a little longer... ;3

...

The Long Road Home

44 – "You're Going to Lose" – 44

The force of liftoff was enough to slam every single being onboard back into their seats as the _Ark_ left its moorings behind and rocketed up towards the heavens of Cybertron. The noise down in the hold where bots and humans sat was almost unbearable as the thundering of the thrusters rose to a crescendo. Aria was shoved down in her restraints with the strength of the g-force. She felt out of control and out of breath as she struggled to draw in air. She clung to Nathanial's hand thinking that this must be what it must be like to be trapped in a plummeting elevator.

Things were calmer on the bridge. Even pressed back in his chair, Hound kept his optics open as the stars rocketed towards them, becoming bigger and brighter in the main viewport as they soared upward, leaving Iacon behind in seconds.

The only thing that could make Hound tear his optics away from the incoming stars were his instruments. "The space bridge will be passing over us in geosynchronous orbit in twenty kliks."

"Understood." Optimus answered, his face stern. They could see it now, moving sluggishly through the star-studded sky above them; a great ring of metal that defied their modern science's understanding. Barely tamed energy – anywhere from green-yellow like Wheeljack's ground bridge to the pure white of raw power – snapped around the bridge's rim, making the stars behind it seem dimmer by comparison. As they drew closer the _Ark's _automatic sensors grayed out the view port so they could look at the bridge without their optics glitching from the brightness.

Optimus Prime turned from the flaring light of the space bridge ahead of them as artificial gravity came fully online and they no longer felt like they were lying in their seats. "How far are the Decepticons behind us?"

There was a slight flurry of orderly motion as everyone checked their station monitors. "I'm getting only one spark signature registerin' on the scans." Ironhide finally called out off to Optimus' left. "Some kinda Seeker looks like."

Hound looked between Ironhide and Prime in confusion from the other side of the command deck. "Starscream?" He suggested. "Looking to gain some glory points by being the first one after us?"

It wasn't a bad suggestion, but it didn't ring quite true either. Starscream wouldn't come after a ship full of Autobots without the rest of his trine behind him. He was smarter than that, and too interested in his own survival to even try.

"It's Megatron." Optimus muttered darkly. It had to be. He was the only one that would take on odds like this if he had even the smallest shot of keeping his adversary from escaping.

The others weren't so sure. "But it can't be," Sideswipe said from the helm, sparing half a look over his shoulder before fixing his optics on the _Ark's_ controls again, "he's a ground-pounder like the rest of us. He doesn't _have _a flight mode," he hesitated, optics switching from side to side in nervous thought, "does he?"

Ratchet made a sound like gears grinding softly in the back of his vocal processor, one hand raised to his chin as he stared off into the middle ground. "Anyone can transcan a new alt-mode, but just cuz a bot with wheels can scan a jet doesn't mean he can fly. He's got to pick an alt-mode that matches his own frame attributes. However," he rumbled softly, optic ridges lowering over his optics so that he scowled as he thought, "Shockwave – though completely lacking in morals – is no mean thinker. It's possible that he found the right modifications to either allow Megatron to take on a Seeker alt-mode or," and this was far more disturbing, "he found a way to turn him into a triple changer."

The bridge went quiet at that thought. Even the _Ark's_ background systems seemed to hush at Ratchet's words.

The medic flapped a hand, oblivious to the rest of the bridge crew's jump in anxiety. "But the modifications he'd have to undergo – the retrofits and upgrades – would require massive amounts of energon, not to mention that they'd be _highly_ experimental-"

"It's him." Optimus said, very sure. "Shockwave must have found a way. And I'm sure all of the new dark energon wells explains where they got the energy."

Sadly it made sense. And without evidence to the contrary, they had to assume it was the original Decepticon himself not half a league behind them now.

Without a word of explanation, Optimus rose from the command seat, face set. No one present said anything as he turned around and headed for the door.

Jazz hurried to stop him before he could leave. "Whoa, where'd ya think you're goin' there OP?" He asked, keeping his voice down so that only Optimus could hear him. "Now's not exactly the time to be out for a stroll."

Optimus ignored Jazz's usual irreverence for the moment. "I'm going to meet Megatron." He said simply. "If he breaches the _Ark's_ hull-"

"He won't get that far." Jazz insisted firmly.

"Yes, he will." Optimus said, some of the authority disappearing from his voice, replaced by stubborn belief. "You know him almost as well as I do-"

Jazz scoffed, switching his weight to his other foot and propping a hand on his hip. "No one knows him like you do boss bot." He insisted.

Optimus didn't let Jazz derail his train of thought. "He doesn't want to stop the _Ark_ from reaching the space bridge; he wants to stop _me_. And he won't stop for anybody else. So it's either meet him out there before he can damage the ship, or meet him _here_," he pointed at the deck beneath their feet, "after he's torn apart anything and everything that tries to stop him from getting this far."

Jazz fixed Optimus with an unflinching gaze. He'd meant what he'd said before – no one knew Megatron like Optimus did – but Jazz had never understood why. They hadn't known each other before the war, had had no personal contact. Optimus – as the data clerk Orion Pax – had heard Megatron's oratories on the corruption of the Cybertronian social system and how the lower classes like themselves had been stripped of the freedoms every mech deserved, but not in person. He'd found them on the datanet during his shift hours and had sorted them into their proper places in the Archives while only half listening. And before the early Decepticons had bombed parts of Iacon, Jazz was sure Megatron had never heard of Orion Pax, although he _must _have been listening when the high council had re-named him Optimus Prime.

So how then? How did these two mechs, leaders of polar opposite factions, understand each other so clearly?

Jazz inwardly shrugged, not for the first time frustrated with his inability to understand what was going on. Maybe the ancients had been right; maybe after you spent enough time on the battlefield with someone, you came to understand them better than their own creators, even if they were on the opposite side.

Whatever it was, Jazz remained unmoved. "I can't let you do that OP." He told his oldest friend. "The Autobots need ya too much, especially on the other side of that bridge. If you get caught out there when we go through, there's no tellin' what all that energy'll do to ya!"

With no one else watching, the growing frustration was plain on Optimus' face. "We can't let him reach the _Ark_-"

"So quit arguin' and send out the Aerialbots to stop him before they reach the ship." Jazz told him firmly. "That's their job; to stop Decepticreeps from gettin' too close."

"They don't have the power to take him head on!" Optimus hissed, mindful of the mechs behind him.

"But Superion does."

Optimus felt his vents freeze momentarily at the mention of the top secret project and he resisted the urge to glance around to see if anyone else was close enough to hear them. Aside from himself and Jazz, only Prowl and Ratchet knew about the retro-fit five of the Aerialbots had gone through to become a combiner team. Combiner-tech had been a long time goal for the Crystal City scientific elite before the war, such as Shockwave, Starscream and Perceptor. But the Decepticons had reached it first with their two gestalt combiners the Constructicons and the Combaticons. And suddenly faced with _two_ combiners, the Autobots had desperately needed their own team of five individual but connected bots that could take them head on.

Silverbolt and his four brothers were the only ones that had fit the bill. Optimus had asked them, making it clear that 'no' was a completely acceptable answer, but they'd agreed anyway. Optimus still wasn't so sure if that relieved him or not.

At the edge of the command deck, Optimus vented a deep sigh as he rubbed at the bridge of his nasal plating and gave a nod. "Alright," he muttered, "comm. Silverbolt. Tell him to take any of the other fliers onboard for backup. I'm sure Starscream and the other Seekers are only cycles behind Megatron."

Jazz nodded and, finally, moved away from the door. He moved stiffly, as if he still half expected Optimus to make a break for it so he could take on Megatron himself.

He didn't though. And as Jazz watched him out of the corner of his optics, the larger mech returned to the center of the bridge to get updates from Hound and Ironhide.

Jazz opened his comm. line. "Hey Silverbolt, ya hear me down there?"

...

"Loud and clear Jazz." Silverbolt answered down in the _Ark's _main hanger.

Strapped into place beside and across from him, Air Raid, Skydive, Fireflight, and Slingshot watched with barely contained anticipation as their oldest brother nodded before answering, "Roger that Jazz. We're on our way."

They other four watched with over-bright optics as Silverbolt closed the line. "Alright mechs, looks like it's our turn to take a crack at Megatron."

Slingshot and Air Raid took the news well. "Aw yeah!" Slingshot crowed, high fiving Air Raid next to him. "Let's give these new combiner circuits a good run for their credits."

Air Raid seemed less excited about that. "You can talk," he muttered as he unhooked his restraints and stood up, flexing wings that had been cramped against the wall too long, "at least you're not a leg."

"Being a leg's not so bad," Skydive defended as he checked his weapons systems, "without legs we wouldn't get anywhere."

Air Raid glared at him. "It's a zero-g fight Skydive. I doubt you and I'll be all that important in this go round." He sulked.

"That and we're Aerialbots," Fireflight spoke up in his usual cheerful manner, "aren't legs a bit superfluous anyway?"

"I'll remind you of that the next time Bluestreak challenges you to a race." Skydive told him with a slight roll of his optics at his youngest brother. Out of the five of them, only he, Fireflight, and Air Raid were actually related, having come from a Seeker mech-creator and wheel-bound femme. Slingshot was their mech-creator's brother's charge who had lost his trine early on while Silverbolt had only met the four of them during their time at the Vosian Academy before the war. They were all bond brothers now though, and it hadn't been that big a jump between that to a combiner team.

_"It's still going to be weird being all in each other's heads though."_ Silverbolt thought as he began his startup sequence. "Skydive, tell Powerglide and the youngun's to be on standby in case Starscream and his friends show up before we can bend Megatron into scrap metal."

"Right." Skydive nodded, one hand already at his audio to send the message.

"The rest of you get a move on. He's only getting closer." He snapped out.

Air Raid smirked at him, all eagerness and aerial audacity, giving Silverbolt a mock salute with two digits to the edge of his helm before turning and running for the open hanger bay door, the vacuum of space held outside by the _Ark's_ specialty shields. Twenty feet from the door, Air Raid triggered his transformation process, leaping into the air as his legs disappeared into his alt-mode's rear thrusters. His boosters kicked on with the sound of oxygen being consumed in a massive rush, rocketing him out into the darkness outside the _Ark_.

With a whoop and holler from Fireflight and Slingshot, the others followed him.

...

"Switch to the rear viewer." Optimus ordered on the command deck.

The click as Hound switched over the view feeds was lost in the general noise of the bridge. He was a little surprised, given the age of the ship, when the viewer switched to the rear camera without almost no delay.

The view itself was not so comforting.

"Bring any weapons systems we have online." Prime ordered as Megatron's new alt-mode powered closer to them. His flier mode was nothing like the streamlined jets the Seeker's preferred. Where theirs were sleek and sharply angled to reduce resistance, Megatron's had wide wings, sticking out of his roughly ovoid main body at a near ninety degree angle. Two sharp prongs – either some kind of gun that Optimus was unfamiliar with or a blunt instrument used for spearing enemies – were at the front of his nose. There was no cockpit to be seen, meaning the alt-mode had been designed after the Quintessons had been driven back. Perhaps Megatron had even fashioned this concept himself.

Optimus felt his optics narrow. If that was true than there were surely some surprises in that that frame that they couldn't see.

"The space bridge is directly overhead us now." Hound called out.

"Megatron is gaining on us. He'll be in firing range before we reach the bridge." Ironhide responded.

"Aerialbots are away." Jazz added.

Optimus nodded, the five jets appearing on the view screen even as Jazz announced that the Aerialbots had taken off. Two of them, Slingshot and Air Raid Optimus thought, overshot Megatron's pointed form, strafing his back as they passed over him. Megatron slowed and made to follow them, but Skydive and Fireflight were aiming for him now, their fire preventing him from tearing after the first two.

Optimus frowned, reaching up to open a line with Silverbolt as the lead Aerialbot came around to join up with Slingshot and Air Raid. "Don't give him any time Silverbolt. Form up _now_."

_"Ay Prime,"_ Silverbolt answered, his voice obscured by heavy static.

The bridge crew watched in anticipation as the Aerialbots broke off their attack of Megatron, some understanding why and most not.

Ironhide was one of the latter. "What the Pit's he _doin'_?!" He demanded loudly as Silverbolt sped ahead of his two brothers and then, in what must have looked like an act of madness to the uninformed, changed out of his jet form back into his bipedal frame only to trigger a different transformation protocol that turned him into a strange, seemingly useless, blocky shape with two open connection joints at each end.

"What the Pit is that?!" Ironhide yelled.

Those on the _Ark_ watched in stunned horror as Air Raid and Slingshot followed his lead, each reverting to their humanoid form before swiftly changing into elongated rectangular blocks, each with a joint set near the middle. The two newly-transformed mechs connected to Silverbolt's left side without delay.

"Careful of the final connection," Ratchet muttered, hands held in anxious fists in front of him as he watched the Aerialbots form up in their final combiner mode.

Skydive distracted Megatron while Fireflight flipped over his back before copying his brothers and connecting to Silverbolt opposite Slingshot.

By then enough of the combiner protocols had been brought online that a large, square head with a blue tinted visor that vaguely resembled earthen aviator glasses appeared out of Silverbolt's body.

Megatron was so taken aback by the combiner's presence that he reverted back into his bipedal mode without thinking about it.

Optimus would have been lying if he said he wasn't just the tiniest bit pleased with Megatron's reaction. "Surprise Megatron," he muttered to the screen, "Meet Superion."

The bridge was quiet as they finally recognized the larger picture.

"Oh." Ironhide mumbled.

Using rocket boots set into his feet, Superion shot towards Megatron and the last remaining Aerialbot. For all his Decepticon reputation, for once Megatron seemed surprised by the appearance of an Autobot combiner. He froze, just for a nano-klik, but it was long enough for Skydive to break away, triggering his own transformation into Superion's final limb.

Superion caught Skydive as he finished his transformation and, quite calmly, attached his leg on at the final joint.

Megatron floated there in the middle of the view screen, his expression slowly giving way from surprise to outrage. Magnified on the _Ark's _view screen, Optimus could see every furious facial seam as Megatron realized that one of his biggest advantages over the Autobots had just been nullified. Devastator and Bruticus would no longer go uncontested on the battlefield.

On the _Ark_, Ratchet hmphed. "Weren't expecting that, were ya big guy?" He muttered as he watched Megatron wrap his processor around Superion's existence.

Megatron acclimated quickly and, his jagged gladiator's sword sliding out of his frame, Megatron flew towards the larger mech, boosters set into the sides of his legs instead of his boots like normal Seekers. He was clearly swifter than Superion as he darted from side to side to avoid the larger mech's weapon's fire. However Superion was not the sluggish brute attack force that the Decepticon combiners were. He moved sideways faster than Megatron anticipated, the gladiator's sword only leaving metal shavings floating in space instead of severing the energon line in Superion's arm. The Autobot used his momentum to circle the Decepticon leader as he overshot his opponent, and scored a direct hit with his blaster that sent the Decepticon reeling, unable to stop himself.

Jazz cheered outright, throwing an arm into the air as Megatron careened off the side of the view screen, but Ratchet just sighed grimly.

"Slag." He muttered.

Optimus shot him a concerned look. "What?" He asked urgently. "What is it?"

The medic was still watching the view screen closely, but he was sure of himself when he spoke. "They're not going to last much longer."

...

Superion watched as Megatron flew away from him, arms waving about as he tried to stop himself or at least regain control of his fall. He tried to follow him, to bring his cannon to bear and finish the job, but there were five different voices shouting in his processor and he couldn't think straight.

_"Air Raid, fire missiles!"_

_ "__**You're**__Air Raid stupid!"_

_ "Silverbolt do something!" _

_"Focus on Megatron!"_

_"Aw man he's not in here too is he? Cause that's going to be a fierce processor ache tomorrow-" _A double toned voice that sounded like Slingshot and Air Raid whined to himself only to have all five voices shout at him, _"Mute it and focus!"_

Somewhere in this mess Silverbolt – at least he thought he was Silverbolt. He might have been Slingshot or Skydive. He thought he had one of the those 'S' names – tried to move Superion's massive body in Megatron's direction, but even straining with all his might, he only got a faint flicker out of his boosters.

_"Whoever the legs are __**move!**__" _The 'S' mech shouted at the mechs that formed the legs.

_"I told you we'd be useful!"_ The right shouted at the left as they kicked their boosters into overdrive and shot towards Megatron.

Only to take a strafing run along their back as Starscream and his Seekers finally joined the fight.

_"Ah!" _Slingshot yelled as Skydive took a hit along his spinal strut and Air Raid dumped a load of suppressant foam to smother a fire that was actually burning through Fireflight's circuits. Silverbolt tried to sort through who was actually hurt but they could all feel everyone else's pain as Starscream and his two wingmechs circled around to hit them again.

_"They're coming again!" _One of them shouted at the others.

_"Great, _you_ do something about it then!"_

_"I can't because you're the hand with the blaster!"_

The arms continued arguing as Starscream drew closer. His two wingmechs opened fire as Starscream flew over Superion's head. By complete chance one of the blasts hit Superion square in the back, the pain of it striking all five of his components' nerves.

They all shouted, the sound coming out as a discordant cry from Superion's mouth. But the pain of burnt nerve endings distracted them from trying to separate their component selves and they looked down at their body through the same set of optics to see severed connections sparking where the Seekers had struck them letting electricity and energon bleed uselessly into space.

Some sense of unity threaded through the garbled collective and Superion once again emerged to the forefront of the combined processor. They – He – rolled his shoulders, unlocking Air Raid's missile launcher from his back.

Both Decepticons rolled away as the Autobot unloaded all six missiles in their direction. Thundercracker was so focused on the heat seeking missiles that when he looked up next, all he saw was a massive hand held out in front of him. There was no time to dodge before he ran full tilt into the Autobot's outstretched hand.

Superion felt the Seeker's nose crumple as he ran into him, but he himself didn't feel much more than a pang at the collision. Leaving Thundercracker to float there in space unconscious, Superion turned, searching for Skywarp.

A sharp line of fire opened up down the side of his left leg, making Superion howl soundlessly into the void. He looked down, but Skywarp had already disappeared. He reappeared behind him and peppered them with laser fire before transwarping away again.

Only to run straight into blaster fire when he reappeared out of his jump.

A sporty blue and red wheeled alt-mode, looking ridiculous with short wings coming out from under its doors, flew low over the purple Seeker, taking advantage of his temporary blindness to strafe him before angling away to rejoin the bright red by-plane and the two Autobot jets that were currently holding off the next wave of Decepticons.

Superion turned and saw that a larger battle had appeared around him while he'd been preoccupied with the command trine. There were other Seekers now, more than the four remaining Autobot fliers could handle. He needed to find Megatron and end this before things got even more out of hand.

Superion batted aside a rain bringer that flew too close before spotting Megatron in the distance. Starscream had managed to steady his leader and bring him out of his uncontrolled spin, but Megatron's systems were probably still reeling. He was too new to the zero-g battleground for them not to be.

Deciding to take his chance before the Decepticon's equilibrium returned, Superion fed power to his boosters and dove straight for the jagged Decepticon.

Only to find that Megatron was not as unbalanced as he had thought.

The gladiator's infamous fusion cannon dropped out of subspace, landing in his hand as if it had been forged there. He aimed it straight at Superion's chest-

Caught off guard, Superion's processor split again into five.

_"Dodge!" _One of the Aerialbots shouted.

_"Left!"_

_ "Right!"_

The result was that Superion took the full force of the blast square in the chest. He was thrown back, momentum reversed as the energy blast cancelled out and then overwhelmed his boosters, leaving him to drift backwards, optics flickering sporadically.

Information from five different sources began to overwhelm the larger sixth as pain ran up and down different struts and limbs.

_"Superion!" _One mumbled in concern.

_"No, I'm Silverbolt." _Three of them answered, one weaker than the others.

_"It's Air Raid stupid." _Sky-Shot shouted.

There were too many voices and none of them were making any sense. Information began to scroll rapidly through Superion's processor and, unable to take it, he began to fracture into his component parts.

_"I am Superi-no Silver-Air Ra-Firefli-Slin-Dive-I am-_ _I am-"_

_ "Slaggit!"_ Six voices shouted in frustration as the combiner's joints began to disengage.

...

"It's no use," Ratchet said with a shake of his head as he and the others watched Superion break apart at the joints, "they're just too inexperienced with Superion's combined form. We need to get them out of there before Megatron rips them apart into their basic alloys."

Optimus nodded, watching the view screen as Superion finally disappeared, leaving behind five beaten Aerialbots. On the far side of the screen, a small gray blur gathered his attention. The Autobot frowned. It was Megatron transforming back into his new Seeker mode. He was coming for them again, leaving Starscream behind to deal with the fallen Aerialbots.

Before Prime could give the order to retreat, Hound called across the bridge, "Hey! I'm getting something weird on the sensors. It says five spark signatures are headed our way, but they're all on top of each other."

"Another combiner?" Jazz asked with a glance at the view screen.

"No," Ironhide muttered darkly, the temporary optic patch covering his injury only adding to his grimness, "it's that Decepticon ship. They're tryin' to follow us through the bridge if they can't stop us from gettin' to it all together."

Hound didn't look like he understood why a Decepticon ship had a spark signature, let alone five, but the sensors were still demanding his attention. "Omega Supreme is behind the ship. He's asking for instructions."

Optimus nodded, optics narrowed. "Tell him to ensure the Aerialbots get back to the _Ark_. He can cover us from there when they are safely onboard. Tell the remaining fliers to follow him and have all Autobots still onboard prepare for a Decepticon boarding party."

Hound called out an affirmative and then turned to the sensor board, one hand pressed a hand to his audio as he relayed the instructions to Omega Supreme. Next to him, Sideswipe broadcast Prime's warning over the _Ark's_ internal speakers.

Jazz barely noticed the increased noise as he watched Optimus turn on his heel and head towards the bridge exit.

Ratchet must have noticed too. "Where are you going Prime? The fight's not over!" He called after him in irritation.

Optimus didn't stop. "I'm going to confront Megatron." He answered firmly.

And this time, Jazz didn't try to stop him.

...

_ "Attention all Autobots, prepare to be boarded. Repeat, attention all Autobots-"_

Down in the _Ark's _medical bay, Bumblebee lifted his head a fraction, the simple motion relighting the dim fire that still burned in his throat and upper chest. He felt fuzzy from the pain killers and lack of real recharge, but he still couldn't rest. The most he could do was shutter his optics and lose himself in the steady thrum of the _Ark's _engines.

As rough as that was, he still couldn't bring himself to just sit here and do nothing. If the Decepticons were going to board them, he wasn't just going to lie here and let them extinguish him. No, if he was going to die here, then he would die fighting.

It took immense effort, but Bee managed to struggle into a sitting position. Shoulders slumped, spark burning almost painfully in his chest, the yellow mech twisted himself so that his legs fell off the side of the medical berth. Taking a moment to gather what strength he had left, he pushed himself off the berth.

He stood for all of two kliks before his knees failed him and he crumpled to the floor.

Strong hands caught him under his arms before he could finish falling. "What are you doing Bumblebee?" Inferno, temporarily in charge of the medical bay while Ratchet was on the bridge and Hoist was aboard the _Lost Light_, demanded in concern as he lifted the little yellow mech up and set him back on the berth. "You haven't even _started _to heal yet and you think you can just go chargin' into battle?"

Bumblebee clung to the edge of the berth as vertigo swept over him and he tried very hard not to fall forward again. He tried to tell Inferno oInfIIniiiindadklIi;adlkfjqthat the battle was charging towards _him_, but all that came out was a broken hiss of static.

Inferno steadied the swaying mech and fixed him with a concerned look. "Erm," he mumbled uncomfortably. Obviously he had expected an answer but had forgotten that Bumblebee couldn't give him one. "Well, you just lie back here and get some rest Bee. You won't be much good to anyone if you kill yourself trying to help. Now come on, up you get."

Inferno continued to mumble useless reassurances as he helped Bumblebee lay back down on the medical slab. The wounded mech shuttered his optics as Inferno reconnected the IV's that Bee must have torn out again when he'd tried to stand. This was the worst part, he decided in his head, not the imposed silence or the fact that he was no good to anyone right now when they were all in so much danger, but the fact that everyone kept feeling the need to fill the silence with useless words. They didn't know what to say to a mech that would never be able to talk again, so they just said any stupid little thing they could think of that they hoped wouldn't remind him that his entire voice box had been torn out of his throat.

The filler words annoyed him more than anything. Not for the first time Bee wished he was down in the hold with Aria, or she was up here with him. But more than that he wished that Arcee and Val were here. They were his best friends, had been since they'd been younglings. They knew, maybe even better than Aria did, how hard this had hit him. And he had this terrible, sinking feeling in his spark that the worst hadn't even sunk in yet.

A deep thunk sounded somewhere above him and Bee sluggishly looked up as a triple set of _booms_ shuddered through the ship, making the medical tools around him tink lightly against their sterile pans. Bumblebee didn't know who had just been hit, but he had a bad feeling it hadn't been one of the Decepticons. None of them were big enough to make that bass sound.

Bumblebee didn't realize his frame had tensed up until his joints started to ache. Forcibly unclenching his denta, he shuttered his optics and tried not to think about what was going on outside. It wasn't like there was anything he could do to help. His pitiful attempt at standing had proved that.

Feeling miserable and useless, Bumblebee tried to get back to that fitful, drug induced recharge. If they were still fated to die today – and he couldn't go down swinging – he might as well be recharging when the Decepticons finally came for him.

...

Omega Supreme sent another payload of missiles towards the Decepticon Seekers as the remaining Autobot fliers gathered up the barely conscious Aerialbots and began the awkward flight back to the _Ark's _hanger. Skywarp evaded the silent projectiles with his usual transwarp mini-jumps while Thundercracker led the remaining missiles on a zigzagging chase that ended in a spiral tight enough that the missiles hit each other and detonated well away from the blue Seeker.

But these two were the least of his problems. Megatron was nowhere to be seen and Starscream and two of his brightly colored rain bringers had reformed and were arrowing towards his massive form.

_"Have Seekers always been this small?"_ Omega wondered to himself as he raised his arms, tri-clawed fingers separating to avoid the heat of the weapons set into the palms of his right servo.

He fired two quick shots, clipping the slower of the rain bringers, but Starscream and the other avoided him easily. They swerved, one in each direction, and then the neon green mech dove while Starscream pulled up, meaning to go over Omega Supreme's head to get behind him.

Omega Supreme's movement was slowed by the lack of any atmosphere or gravitational pull, but he still managed to swing a large hand out to catch the rain bringer. The green mech tried to swerve, but his wing slammed into Omega Supreme's digits. The wing crumpled against the larger bot's unmovable servo and he went spiraling off away from him, out of the fight as his wing joint sparked, threads of electricity bright against the black.

Starscream was not as easily stopped. He rose high over the large Autobot's head, and then swung down, strafing Omega's spinal strut with weapons fire.

Omega flinched at the multiple impacts, but his thick armor held. He began to turn around, the process slow since he only had the maneuvering jets set along his legs. By the time he'd managed to make it around, Starscream had swung back behind him and had peppered one of his wings with dents.

They were hardly more than a scratch to the behemoth Autobot. Omega Supreme ignored the Seeker flitting around him, optics scanning the space before him for his remaining comrades. In the distance between him and the retreating shape of the _Ark,_ he could make out the bright red form of Powerglide as he covered Tracks and the remaining Seekers as they dragged the semi-conscious Aerialbots towards the relative safety of their ship.

Distance was near impossible to measure out here with no reference markers, however Omega's sensors had been programmed long ago when the Cybertronian empire had still stretched out beyond their home world. Unlike the rest of the bots around him, he knew how to gauge the void.

Deeming the other Autobots were far enough away to be out of even his impressive range, Omega Supreme activated the neural net Quintus Prime had designed for him; an experimental weapon he'd received long ago before he'd been charged with guarding the AllSpark. It weaponized the great mech's very sensors, heightening their sensitivity and creating massive amounts of electricity that would overcharge a smaller mech like Starscream in an micro second. As Omega Supreme watched through his orange-tinted face plate, he watched the ball of netted energy extended outward away from his body in a large sphere, controlled by the antenna on the back of his helm. It cracked and fizzled with electric energy that would fry any bot's sensors if they got to close.

Starscream almost found that out the hard way. Surprised by the appearance of the electric web, he faltered for a near fatal klik before tilting on his x-axis and twisting away before the neural net could snare him.

Omega felt the net stabilize around him, the program locking into place in his subroutines with a definitive charge near his antenna. Sufficiently shielded, he raised his left arm and fired on the Seeker, the blast passing through the shield and carrying the electric current with it towards the fleeing Starscream.

Starscream felt the heat of the blast as he spun away, dodging before the stream of crackling fire could rend him to his basic components. Blasted Autobot! This was something he'd never seen before, either in his early days as a scientist in Crystal City or more recently down in Shockwave's house of horrors. Undoubtedly it was something that mad genius of an engineer of theirs had cooked up in his unbalanced processor. Starscream would have to ask him about it when he got back to the surface.

Scowling at the beam as he evaded it, Starscream had to admit it was a rather impressive piece of weaponry. Omega Supreme's blaster-hand emitted a continuous beam of white energy that would melt down anyone it touched, but the true mastery of engineering and thought was the net that surrounded the large Autobot. It originated at the antenna at the back of Supreme's helm before wrapping around him to form an impassible shield. Furthermore, the Autobot seemed to be controlling it directly with his neural net, the web of delicate circuits in his processor that was responsible for all cognitive thought...

Starscream narrowed his optics as he angled away from Supreme's fire again, an idea forming in his head. If that was true then the net had one fatal flaw, a soft spot that only needed one good push to deactivate it, and possibly Omega Supreme as well.

Starscream grinned to himself as he snapped open the private comm. line he shared with his trine. _"Skywarp! Thundercracker! Converge on Omega Supreme!" _He shrieked over the line before giving them more explicit instructions. He was still grinning as he closed the line. Megatron wasn't the only one with bigger cyber-fish to fry today.

The Seeker was proving to be more difficult to deactivate than Omega had first thought, but then small opponents had always been a weakness of his. He was just too big to efficiently bring down their smaller, quicker frames.

Starscream threw himself into a spiraling dive with renewed speed even as Omega chased him with his combined neural net-firing power, the beam burning so white-hot that it made the surrounding stars appear gray. The Seeker was circling Omega now, and Omega turned slowly to keep his red and white form in sight as he moved.

Biting pain abruptly lanced down his legs, making Omega jerk, the neural beam going off course and giving Starscream a reprieve. The great Autobot looked down, reading the continuous sensor scans from his extended neural net as he did so. Skywarp had transwarped past his shield with Thundercracker while he had focused on Starscream, and the pair had strafed his legs, damaging his maneuvering thrusters. He turned his massive blaster hand on them, but they just as quickly disappeared from sight, only to reappear on the far side of the neural net.

Omega Supreme's impassive face turned down into a frown. Without his maneuvering jets he was severely limited. He still had his massive rocket launchers so he wasn't just drifting in space, however finer movement were now lost to him.

The Seeker trine darted around him in a complicated pattern that made Omega think that perhaps they would run into each other and save him some effort. Of course the command trine had more skill than that and they easily avoided each other as they fired on Omega Supreme.

Their weapons' fire hit the crackling surface of his neural net, but none broke through. They would need stronger fire power than they had on them to manage that. His greatest concern was that Skywarp would use his transwarp drive to get his trine past the unbreakable shield, but they seemed to be reluctant to get that close to Omega, even hindered as he was.

Omega Supreme eyed them warily, a reluctant gap in the firing appearing as they darted in and out of his line of sight, unwilling to give him a clear shot. Omega Supreme raised his arm, smoke drifting away from the muzzle, to fire anyway, site set on the troublesome Decepticon second as he slowed briefly to avoiding crashing into Thundercracker tearing across the space between them.

But something stopped him. A glint – silvery and metallic but dull against the blanket of stars behind it – flashed barely a nano-klik as the Seekers flew around him, but it was enough to make Omega Supreme pause.

His spark clenched when he realized what it was. A mine. A small, spherical mine floating in the void. And it wasn't the only one. He saw now that he was surrounded by dozens of mines, all laid out in a net that surrounded his own. They must have dropped them as they flew around him, supposedly looking for a way past his defensive measure.

Realizing the fatal flaw Starscream planned to exploit, Omega Supreme tried to deactivate the neural net, but it wasn't designed to just shut down. It had to retract otherwise his sensors would overload with the sudden snap back into his frame, sending him into stasis lock.

The shield shrank with what felt like painstaking slowness as Omega Supreme raised his firing arm to try and drive the Seekers away, but there were three of them and he only had the one blaster.

Thundercracker dove for one of the mines, but Omega managed to drive him off with his blaster. His sudden jerk nearly sent him running into Skywarp and both had to dart away from each other before they crashed. But Starscream-

Omega Supreme was unable to move fast enough as Starscream took his clear shot. His laser fire flew in straight lines towards Omega.

It was all the Autobot could do to raise his arm over his face to protect his optics as the laser bolts struck one of the mines. And then Omega Supreme was consumed with fire.

The mine exploded and interacted with the neural net just like Omega's blaster fire had, becoming so entangled that they were indistinguishable. The neural net backfired, fiery pain from the explosion traveling directly into Omega Supreme's processor, overloading his heightened sensors.

He dimly remembered Starscream flying victoriously over him as his processor dropped into a protective stasis lock, rendering Omega Supreme useless to the rest of his fellow Autobots as they made their final approach to the space bridge.

...

Optimus strode quickly through the _Ark's _corridors, but he didn't run. He knew Megatron was waiting for him. If he took too long then the Decepticon would most likely come down into the ship looking for him, but Optimus didn't plan on making him wait that long.

Other Autobots were running around him, most coming at him in the opposite direction to prepare for any other Decepticons that managed to get past Omega Supreme and into the _Ark_. They parted to give him a clear path, but other than that they hardly seemed to see him.

He only stopped once at a supply room near the back of the ship. The lights flickered on when he opened the door, but they were spotty having lain dormant for long centuries and flicked on and off sporadically as he searched the shelves for vacuum gear.

He found the magna-clamps along the front wall and grabbed a pair before leaving the room at a sprint. Remembering the _Ark's _schematics that Alpha Trion had given them, he made his way to an elevator at the end of the hall that led directly to the _Ark's _hull. As the elevator started its climb, he put on the magna-clamps, locking them onto the bottom of his boots.

_"Prime," _his comm. line crackled before he got the second one on, _"Omega Supreme is down, but we've got the Aerialbots and the rest of the fliers back onboard. Sideswipe says we'll reach the space bridge in ten cycles."_

Optimus frowned at Jazz's words. Ten cycles...that didn't leave much time for him to get rid of Megatron. Cut it too close and both he and Megatron could be lost in the bridge...either that or the warlord might end up coming with them to wherever the bridge would take them. And wouldn't that be fun?

"Understood Jazz," Optimus answered his lieutenant, "I'll be done in a moment."

It was a ridiculously hopeful thing to say, but he'd been told many time by many bots that he was nothing if not optimistic.

Jazz sounded less sure as he muttered, "Right," before cutting their connection.

There was a slight thunk and hiss as the elevator passed through the _Ark's _primary atmospheric shielding and then quickly depressurized as it came to stop outside of the ship.

Optimus waited, faceplates set as the doors silently opened in front of him. This section of the hull was flat and smooth as it sloped down to form the portside wing. Stepping out of the elevator, Optimus could see the edge of the ship far out and slightly down in front of him. But he saw nothing else.

The magna-clamps made a muffled _clunking_ sound as he walked, the secondary atmospheric shield keeping in a marginal amount of air as a protective buffer for any maintenance crew that needed to come out to work on the hull. Technically, Cybertronians could operate just fine in a vacuum, but it was hardly easy or comfortable for them.

Careful to set his feet firmly against the hull so that the magna-clamps would keep him secured to the ship, Optimus turned in a slow circle, narrowed optics watching for any sign of his foe.

When he didn't appear Optimus shouted, "Megatron! Come out and face me!"

His voice sounded thready in the thin atmosphere and most of the sound bounced around the inside of his head, but he knew Megatron could hear him. He waited a handful of kliks before the thin whine of jet engines appeared in his audios.

Megatron swooped over the edge the port wing in front of Optimus with the thrum of half-heard engines as he entered the secondary atmospheric shield and landed with a solid _boom_ against the _Ark's _hull in a crouch.

Slowly, Megatron straightened. Optimus saw he was grinning at him as if he felt invincible. And with his violet optics, that might even be true.

Optimus fixed Megatron with a firm stare, refusing to be intimidated by his long time nemesis. Dark energon was just another weapon – with all the advantages and drawbacks necessary – it did not make Megatron invincible.

Megatron spread his arms wide as if he was greeting an old friend. "Ah, Optimus. There you are. We have unfinished business you and I."

Optimus glared at him, mouth set in a grim line. "Indeed Megatron." He rumbled, unwilling to give the Decepticon leader any more than that.

For once Megatron was feeling talkative. Perhaps it was the heady affects of dark energon, perhaps he just enjoyed getting another straight throw down with his counterpart, Optimus didn't know.

He pointed a sharp pointed digit at Optimus. "That was a clever trick with the combiner, Prime. I didn't count on you to be so underhanded." Megatron said with a sly smile. "But you seem to have forgotten something."

Optimus narrowed his optics at the mech that had stood against everything he'd believed in for vorns. "And what is that Megatron?"

"You're only putting off the inevitable." Megatron told him, spreading his arms to either side in early triumph, a grin stretching across his jagged faceplates. "Face it Prime, you're not walking away from me again. Not this time. I don't know how you've managed it so many times before – if that arthritic Archivist has been watching out for you even now or if you were blessed by Primus' slaggin' self – but there will be no more second chances. You've finally run out."

Optimus frowned at Megatron, optic ridges lowering over bright optics that burned even bluer in their dark surroundings. "You've never been one for monologuing Megatron. Get to the point."

Megatron's grin was a gash of sharp teeth, filed down into jagged points. "You're going to lose, Prime." He told him as if it was already fact and then quirked an optic ridge at Prime almost sardonically. "Any last words?"

Many things ran through Optimus' head – how Megatron was destroying the very thing he had first fought for, how the Autobots would never bow to him even if he succeeded and killed Optimus here and now, even how it would only be a matter of time before he would be deposed either by Autobots or his own backstabbing command officers no matter what happened between them today – but it was nothing he had not told Megatron before and Optimus didn't really see a point in repeating himself now.

So instead Optimus fixed a scowl on the mech that had made him his nemesis and drew his energon sword from where he kept it along the circuitry in his right arm, the edge superheated yellow-red to cut through even Megatron's thick armor.

"Do your worst Megatron." He rumbled.

Megatron's optic ridges rose at the uncharacteristic bluntness of his opponent, but his surprise was fleeting.

His mouth curled into a menacing grin, his sharply angled face the stuff of nightmares that would follow Optimus until his dying orbit.

"Oh I plan to Prime." Megatron muttered, and then threw himself forward, gladiator's sword dropping into his hand as he roared his battle cry.


	45. Chapter 45: Do Your Worst

Woo hoo! Epic fight scene...in space! Epic alien robot fight scene in space! Mwuahaha! I hope you're all excited because no one throws a better brawl than OP and Megsy! Calling him Megsy sucks almost all the big-bad-robotness out of it, but I'm too excited to care! I really hope this chapter gets your hearts pounding and you finish with infinitely shorter fingernails. n_n

Great big thank yous go to all my lovely reviewers and readers as usual! You guys keep me going so thank you!

Right then, here we go!

* * *

><p>To L.M.L. (whom I have no other way to communicate with): Yes! I love having readers on the edge of their seats! It's one of the best things about writing a chapter-by-chapter story; you get to let the readers stew a bit before relieving the pressure. ;3 And I've been so psyched about Megatron and Optimus' epic space battle for ages now! x) And as for the blinking headfins. It was never a secret exactly, but G1 Wheeljack (one of my all time favorite Transformers) has those bizarre headfins that light up blue whenever he talks. That's what I was referring to and I just kept forgetting to tell you that whenever I left you these semi-awkwardly placed messages. n_n; So if that's the conclusion you came to than good for you! You win the prize! The entirely-not-physical-but-you-can't-prove-it-doesn't-exist prize! Woo yeah! Go you! xD<p>

And I love The Humbling River. It's one of my all time favorite Transformers songs to this day. I can't wait to hear what you think of this next chapter and I really hope you like it! Bye! :D

...

The Long Road Home

45 – "Do Your Worst" – 45

Optimus rushed forward to meet him out on the open field of the _Ark's_ hull, not wanting to be caught too close to the walls that marked the higher levels of the ship. Their swords met with what would have been a resounding clang if they'd been in any decent sort of atmosphere. As it was they met with enough force that Optimus felt tremors shudder up his sword arm.

He pushed against Megatron, stubborn force meeting equally stubborn resistance, neither able to throw the other off.

A steaming hiss interrupted the standoff as the heat of Optimus' energon sword began to eat through the serrations of Megatron's sword.

Megatron growled and sidestepped, freeing his sword and letting Optimus fall forward with his own force. Optimus caught himself after the first unanticipated step, but there wasn't time to turn and catch Megatron's blow as he leveled his sword at the Autobot commander's neck.

Optimus dropped to his knee and bowed his head, Megatron's sword flying right over him, only scraping paint off his helm instead of decapitating him. He knew without looking at the Decepticon lord that Megatron redirect his sword's momentum to bring down from above him.

He rolled forward and came up to his feet as Megatron's sword struck the hull where he'd been kneeling nano-kliks before. Optimus brought his sword up in a swipe that nearly opened Megatron's leg wide open.

But the Decepticon knew Optimus as well as Optimus knew him. He back stepped, avoiding the swipe, and then ran forward, closing the distance between them and rendering their long swords useless.

Their sword hilts locked as Megatron tried to overpower his enemy and Optimus tried to throw him off. But trying to push back Megatron was like trying to throw Ultra Magnus with your bare hands. He didn't go anywhere and you were more likely to hurt yourself before he even budged.

"How many times have we done this now Prime?" Megatron growled as the steel of their weapons scraping together, little metal shavings floating to the ground. "A hundred- a thousand times? Face it, I know you too well. I know every move you've got. How many more encounters do you think you'll last against me?"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to last this one, huh Megatron?" Optimus ground out past clenched denta. "And besides, it works both ways. You're set in stone Megatron. You've got no surprises left in you." He taunted him.

Megatron's optics burned darker with violet fury, and then before Optimus could realize, he twisted out of the way of their tangled blades and jammed his elbow into Optimus' face.

Optimus felt faceplates tear on Megatron's spiked armor as he stumbled back. Shocked, he raised a hand to his mouth and came away with energon on his fingers.

He looked up to find Megatron glaring at him a few steps away, sword held tightly in one hand as he paced along the _Ark's _hull.

"What were you saying Prime?" Megatron asked belligerently, twisting the hilt of his sword in one hand so that it spun in a tight circle at his side. "Am I still so predictable now?"

Optimus didn't answer as he straightened himself, ignoring the feeling of energon trickling down his neck. Megatron just raised optic ridges at him in irritation. "I am? Well then, how about this?"

He raised his arms and as if he was some ring master performing a show, a great shadow fell across Optimus' back. He crab-walked sideways, always keeping Megatron in his line of sight, and gasped when he saw what had appeared.

The warship from the Wastes. The repairs must have been farther along then they'd thought because there it was, hulking over the _Ark's_ back section like some great, angled snake ready to constrict it.

"Surprised yet Optimus?" Megatron gloated.

Refusing to give him anymore satisfaction, Optimus steeled his face, for once wishing he had thought to wear a battle mask so that Megatron couldn't read him so easily.

But there was nothing to do about it now. Optimus raised his sword and charged the Decepticon lord, shouting a challenge as he ran.

...

Down in the ship's hanger bay, Ratchet was doing the best he could as quickly as he could for the newly returned Aerialbots.

"You weren't ready," he grumbled as he set Fireflight's wing and welded it back to his spinal strut. It was a temporary job, but it would hold until he had more time on the other side of this frackin' space bridge. "None of you were slaggin' ready to form Superion yet."

Skydive, the only one of his brothers still conscious, leaned heavily against Powerglide's shoulder, the red by-plane the only thing keeping him upright at this point. "What choice did we have Docbot?" The black and gray mech rasped. "We couldn't just let Megatron come. We had to do _something_."

Still angry with himself for not arguing against launching an inexperienced Superion against a furious Megatron, Ratchet harrumphed as he finished up Fireflight's weld. Scowling, he turned to the two young ones hovering nearby. "Get him onto a stretcher!" He snapped at them. "And secure him tight. There's no tellin' how rough that space bridge'll be. The last thing I need are my patients getting thrown about and knocking their heads into everything!"

The two fliers jumped to do as he said, one getting Fireflight's arm around his shoulders and the other moving the stretcher closer to the prone Aerialbot. Fireflight didn't even groan as they strapped him in.

"And much good your heroics did anyone!" Ratchet snapped at Skydive. "Megatron's above our heads right now trying to kill Optimus and you all are down here suffering from internal bleeding and worse!"

Skydive didn't let the medibot's frustration get to him. "We gave Optimus time." He insisted. "If nothing else. I'm sure he's got a plan to deal with Megatron."

Ratchet huffed as he scanned Air Raid and assessed whether the damage to his gut-wiring was more or less threatening than the seeping wound that ran down the side of his chest. "Oh yeah, and what makes you say that?" Ratchet asked, focused more on Air Raid than Skydive's answer.

"It's Optimus," Skydive answered confidently, "he's always got a plan."

...

Right then Optimus' only plan was to not get killed.

He avoided Megatron's next blow and the side swipe aimed for his chest that followed before he lashed out and kicked the gray mech away. He spun, running for the higher ground of the uneven weapon's blister behind him.

He had to remind himself not to jump up onto it lest he be carried away by the lack of gravity as his magna-clamps stuck tight to the side of the blister. At the top he turned, swinging his sword down as Megatron chased after him.

He caught Megatron across the chest, opening up a shallow line in his armor. The Decepticon snarled, furious more at the blow to his fighting pride than at the wound itself.

His attacks redoubled. Optimus had a hard time keeping up, even with the high ground. As it was, he only just managed to block a strike that would have opened up his spark chamber from top to bottom.

While Optimus held off the sword, Megatron let go with one hand, reached out and tore open his opponents right arm from elbow to wrist joint with his spiked vambrace.

Optimus cried out at the sudden pain as the energon leaked out of the rent in his armor before floating above his arm in the weak gravity of the secondary shield. He swung reflexively at Megatron to force him to back away, but the gladiator leapt up instead, thrusters firing in his boots to give him enough force to jump over Optimus' swinging blade.

Then, cutting his boosters, Megatron kicked Optimus high on the chest, just under his chin. The force was enough to send him flying backwards, magna-clamps letting go of the hull.

He sailed through the weak gravity. Dimly he realized he was approaching the edge of the secondary atmospheric shield. It he passed out of it he had no way of getting back to the ship. He'd be sent drifting into space.

Optimus flailed, trying to get his feet close enough to the metal hull that the magna-clamps would engage and drag him back to safety. But he couldn't get close enough for the magnetism to take hold.

...

On the _Ark's _bridge, Jazz watched from behind his tinted visor as the space bridge filled their forward view port.

"Right, it's now or never bots," he called out as they approached the event horizon of the swirling white energy, "tell everybot to strap in and hold on for dear existence cause here we go!"

Ironhide was less upbeat about the prospect of getting themselves swallowed by that ancient space bridge. "How close is that Decepticon ship behind us now?" He asked Hound in a deep grumble.

Hound scanned his instruments. "They're right on top of-" he started to say.

Only to be cut off as something rammed into the _Ark_, sending every mech on the bridge forward into their stations.

"What was that?!" Jazz shouted. "The space bridge?"

"No!" Hound answered, voice slightly strangled as he tried to regain his breath. "The Decepticon ship rammed us. I see hull breaches in levels seven and twenty-one, but it looks like the Decepticon's are stuck. They can't pull back."

"That can happen?!" Sideswipe shouted between surprise and panic as he wrestled with the ship's steering yoke, muscle-cables bulging on his strong arms as he tried to keep to their original course.

Jazz groaned. "Stupid slaggers," he grumbled, "if they come through with us we'll be no better off than we were down home!" He snapped at no one present.

Another blow rocked the ship, only this time it didn't come from behind.

"Well we'd better hurry then," Hound told him, "because we've just entered the space bridge."

Another bolt of space bridge energy shot forward and struck their rounded prow as it dipped into the whirling pool of energy that made up the bridge.

"Slag." Jazz muttered before opening up a comm. line to his superior.

...

_"Optimus! Their ship's stuck on our port fins! We gotta get 'em off before we go through this frackin' bridge!"_

Optimus resisted the urge to sigh at Jazz's message. Great, as if he didn't have enough to do already.

Still flying backward without any way of stopping, Optimus reached down and jammed his sword down into the _Ark's_ hull, the tip of the blade slicing through the metal as easily as it could cut butter. His arm was wrenched at the shoulder as his sword stayed put, but the ploy worked. What remained of his momentum swung the rest of his body out, his lower legs leaving the secondary shield entirely and stretching out into the cold void of space, but his sword kept him from leaving the safety of the _Ark_ altogether.

Optimus pulled himself forward and after anxious seconds of wrestling with the lack of gravity, he brought his legs down to solid ground again, the magna-clamps reconnecting to the hull with a metallic sounding _clunk_.

He looked up and saw that Megatron had been thrown sideways when his ship had collided with the _Ark_. He was soaring along unimpeded, arms and legs flailing uselessly as he tried to find something to hold much as Optimus had done moments before.

He was luckier though, behind him a wall of the _Ark _stretched upward before joining with the main body of the ship. He rammed into it backwards, his head making a satisfying clanging sound as it hit the Autobot ship.

Optimus allowed himself a grim smile as he turned and headed towards the back of the _Ark_. Above him the shadowed form of the Decepticon warship loomed. Just ahead he could see where the black and purple ship's ramming spines had gotten lodged into the _Ark's _thicker hull. The spines were relatively thin, and only two of them were stuck. His energon sword would be enough to cut them loose.

Something heavy rammed into Optimus from behind, throwing him forward yet again as his magna-clamps were torn from the metal hull.

Growling almost like a wild animal, Megatron spun Optimus around and punched him twice in the face before Optimus managed to land a blow of his own.

He knocked the heavier mech off with a grunt, kicking Megatron in the chest plates with both feet, sending them in opposite directions. This time though Megatron remembered his boosters. He kicked them on before Optimus could reach the trapped spines and rocketed forward, his violet optics burning with dark fire as he pulled his sword back for a killing strike.

Optimus had had enough of this madness. Forgetting his sword, he pulled his heavy blaster from subspace, its weight falling reassuringly into his palm.

He fired twice at Megatron, both shots hitting him square in the chest, leaving his armor warped from the heat. Momentum interrupted by the unexpected force, Megatron drifted in a circle off the _Ark's _hull as he pressed a hand over his spark to make sure it was still in one piece.

The force of his shots sent Optimus back faster and he had to quickly reach out and snag hold of the Decepticon ship before he passed it completely and was thrown from the _Ark_ entirely.

He caught hold and swung around the spines before his feet slammed onto an upraised wall coming from the hull – some kind of vent housing he thought – and the magna-clamps held tight before he could right himself, leaving him standing sideways staring up at the sky above the _Ark_.

A bolt of blaster fire struck the Decepticon ramming spines and Optimus ducked reflexively, but the metal chips only floated harmlessly above his head.

Megatron continued to fire on him with a furious guttural growl coming from the back of his vocal processor. He kept up his heavy fire, not giving Optimus a chance to either retaliate or cut the Autobot ship free from his.

Optimus glanced up at the blaster fire sailing over his head as he wrenched one foot from the upward wall and jammed it back down on the main body of the ship. Half crouched to avoid Megatron's fire, he did the same with the other, righting himself.

Optimus ducked around the ramming spines only to flinch back as one of Megatron's blasts hit the spine directly next to his face. The brief glance was enough for him to see that a third of the _Ark _was in the space bridge now. He had to disengage the warship _now_.

But Megatron wasn't about to let up. Bits of red-hot metal from the trapped spines flew off with each repeated blast, the metal starting to glow yellow at the center. At this rate Optimus wouldn't have to cut the _Ark _free because Megatron would blast his own ship apart just to get at him.

A sliver from the ramming spines spun off and sliced a clean line through Optimus' cheek. He barely noticed it as he primed both his gun and his energon sword. Not daring to poke his head over the side of the exhaust vent, he raised his gun and fired off two quick shots in Megatron's general direction. If nothing else maybe he could force the mech to back off long enough to find cover of his own.

The heavy fire still flying over his head told Optimus _that_ didn't work. Bracing his palm against the hull as he tried to see Megatron around the side of the vent cover, Optimus felt the vibrations running through the ship as it drove hard for the safety of the bridge, engines working overtime to compensate for the added weight of Megatron's ship. They must be halfway through by now. He could hear the sounds of multiple strikes closer to the ship's nose as space bridge energy hit the ship. And they were only increasing the farther they went in.

Optimus fired above the exhaust vent again to try and drive Megatron back. And judging by the shout that quickly followed, this time one of them hit their target. The Autobot snuck a glance around the vent and saw he had hit Megatron's left arm, knocking off his fusion cannon entirely and disabling the limb.

But still Megatron kept coming. His left arm now hung useless at his side, sparks fizzing out between the gashes in his armored plating, and the light of his spark was shining through the weakened points in his chest from where Optimus had hit him earlier, but he hadn't stopped to notice either serious wound. His optics only burned darker purple the more Optimus hit him.

The light of the space bridge was rolling over the _Ark_ like a physical wall and it was getting closer to their position. Soon they would be swallowed up and Optimus had no desire to find out what that kind of effect that energy had on an unprotected bot. And Megatron was so deep in the effects of dark energon that he wondered if the Decepticon would even notice when they passed through the bridge's event horizon.

Memory suddenly pricked at Optimus' central processor. He retracted his energon sword, the extra heat warming his inner circuitry against the cold of the thin atmosphere. He reached into his subspace, arm disappearing up to the elbow through the storage rift before he finally felt the rounded shape of what he sought.

He hefted Wheeljack's dark energon bubble gun out of storage and quickly looked it over for any damage. It looked like it would still work.

He turned the specialized blaster on, a thin whine appearing as its systems warmed up. Beyond the exhaust vent, he heard the sound of magnetized boots tromping towards him along the hull.

And then suddenly, Megatron shrieked as something sizzled through the air on the other side of the vent, lighting up the darkness to an unbearable brightness.

Optimus dimmed his optics receptors but the light vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Not knowing what had hit the other mech, but knowing _something_ had struck the Decepticon, Optimus took his opportunity. He dropped his blaster and hefted the dark energon defense weapon, spinning out from cover to get a clear shot at Megatron.

He fired as soon as he was clear and was rewarded with the _skee-thmp_ as the compressed blast found its target.

Megatron jerked back with the force of the energy bullet that lodged in his shoulder, the seam between his chest and shoulder guard wedged open from earlier fire. He seemed stunned, not that Optimus had hit him, but at whatever had just struck him with the force of a high powered lightning bolt.

And given the way tendrils of violet-tinged space bridge energy crawled across the ground around Megatron and up and over the gaps in his armor, Optimus had a good idea what had struck him.

With no time to wonder at how the space bridge energy had managed to affect Megatron when nothing else could get past his dark energon induced stupor, Optimus leapt to his feet, energon sword shooting from its place along his arm, and with a roar he brought it down with as much force as he was capable of.

The super heated edge sliced through the ramming spines like they were soft clay.

With a great shudder, the _Ark_ slipped forward. At first they outpaced the Decepticon ship, but as Optimus watched, the warship's engines pushed harder. They made up the distance quicker than he would have liked.

The Decepticons would still catch up with them, he realized.

And Optimus had no way to stop them now.

...

He wasn't the only one that realized this. For the past few cycles, Omega Supreme had been struggling to bring his systems back online, but his damage was too great. At most he could online one of his optics, the world distorted into staticky lines and grayed-out colors.

He saw the gray-black form of the Decepticon ship gaining on the _Ark_. Omega had drifted closer to the space bridge while he'd been offline and the warship was passing over him now, smoothly sliding away with the _Ark _at first, and then catching up.

Omega would have frowned if he'd had any control over his faceplates. As it was he could hardly manage to move his arm towards the enemy warship.

_"Mission," _Omega thought, even this difficult, _"Protect Autobots!"_

He clamped his tri-digit hand around the _Nemesis's_ rudder and threw as much of his strength into his rocket boosters. They flickered to life, fire blazing unsteadily from his thrusters, and Omega threw himself backward. His added weight slowed the large ship only a little, but enough that the _Ark _was now pulling ahead. They would disappear through the bridge before the Decepticons could catch them.

...

"What is this?!"

Starscream's shriek rang through the bridge of the _Nemesis_. Alarms were beeping from different stations that some force was dragging them off course, but he didn't need the Vehicons' reports to know that. Around him the ship groaned as metal strained with the effort to move forward despite the sudden resistance.

"Sir! Omega Supreme has latched onto our rudder! We can't control our course without it." One of the Vehicons shouted over the noise of the alarms.

Starscream growled through gritted teeth, one hand fisted on the arm of his command chair."Rain bringers!" He snapped through his line. "Take the Autobot down _now!_"

A trio of, "Yessir!" came across his comm. but Starscream paid them little mind. His optics were fixed on the view screen that made up the entire front wall of the bridge. The Autobots' ugly ship was pulling away from them faster now, over half of their bulk through the bridge. Clinging to its hull, he could just make out Megatron and Optimus as they charged each other for one final blow.

Starscream banged his fist on the armrest. So close, he thought, they were so _close_.

His screech rang through the bridge, making bots flinch as the sharp sound scraped against their audios. "They cannot be allowed to escape!"

...

Suddenly the Decepticon warship slowed. Optimus didn't know how, but he was grateful. Already the gap between the two ships was widening.

Engines suddenly free from the extra weight of the Decepticon ship, the _Ark_ lurched forward, an extra five feet of hull disappearing through the gate of energy. Only the magna-clamps kept Optimus upright as the _Ark _jolted forward. Megatron was less lucky. He slammed sideways, banging into the hull and bouncing back up. His optics dimmed almost to nothing with the collision, but then the dark energon surged as it fought against Wheeljack's containment field and they burned bright enough to sear their violet image onto Optimus' processor.

_"PRIME!"_ Megatron roared, his voice slurred as he struggled to get to his feet, left arm limp and the other pressed tight to the center of his chest, the glow of his spark leaking out around the edges of his palm. _"This will end now!"_

Optimus was already running towards him, his magna-clamps making loud clanking noises as they repeatedly connected and disengaged to the hull. "Agreed Megatron!" He shouted. Gone were his sword and his blaster and as he neared the half-conscious but infuriated warlord, he cocked his fist back and slammed it into Megatron's jaw with a battle cry that threatened to shake the stars out of the sky around them.

Megatron's faceplates buckled under the sudden assault, leaving a fist sized dent beneath his right optic. His optics burned with Unicron's fury, but then dimmed as something gave a faint _pop_ inside his body – the containment field finally cutting off the dark energon from the rest of his system.

At this point dark energon was the only thing keeping him upright. Without its power to keep him going Megatron's systems sank abruptly into shock. The Decepticon warlord sagged where he floated above the _Ark_, limbs and facial features going slack. And as Optimus watched, his optics flickered once, twice, and once more before finally powering down into unconsciousness.

...

"No!" Starscream shrieked from the _Nemesis's_ bridge.

...

"Yes!" Jazz punched the air from the _Ark's _command deck as he watched the same fight unfold. "Woo yeah! Kick his can Optimus!"

...

_"Success."_

The word drifted through Omega Supreme's processor. His mind was fuzzy and his rocket boosters were starting to weaken. He wouldn't be able to hold back the Decepticon ship for much longer, but it was almost at the point where it didn't matter.

He saw the rain bringers coming with his sensors only, his optics filled with too much static to give him a clear picture of anything but fuzz. He didn't have the strength to defend himself, not while he was holding back the _Nemesis_, so when their missiles came, they hit him with full force.

He steeled himself against the pain and held tighter to the Decepticon's rudder. He wouldn't be able to hold onto it forever, but if he dented it – damaged it in some way – then maybe they wouldn't be able to follow them.

A second strike from the Decepticon Seekers hit with enough force to dislodge him. His servos slipped on the rudder and it jerked out of his grasp before he could grab hold again. He was left there, reaching out for the warship, even as the rain bringers released their third and final strike.

Explosives hit with enough concussive force that Omega Supreme was forced back. Unable to move, barely able to keep his optics online enough to see the Seekers break off their attack, Omega Supreme had no way to stop himself. Dimly he felt himself enter Cybertron's gravity well. The pull was faint at first, but inescapable. It began to pull him down, slowly at first, like going through quicksand, but then fast enough that the friction of the air heated his armor to almost unbearable temperatures.

Omega Supreme didn't notice as stasis lock finally claimed him. He only had one thought as he fell.

_"All hail...the last Prime."_

...

Unaware of Omega Supreme's sacrifice, Optimus trudged across the _Ark's _hull. He needed to get back inside before they fully entered the space bridge, but he was worn out from the fight and if he went too fast, his magna-clamps might not get a strong enough hold on the hull to keep him onboard the _Ark_.

Megatron still floated unconscious behind him. Optimus wouldn't have minded dragging his aft down to the brig to face justice – or at the very least giving him a good push and sending him to float out into the void of space – but there was no time for either. Not unless he didn't mind staying out here while they traveled through the unstable bridge.

He didn't need instruments to tell him the bridge was unstable now. He could see it. Great jags of energy sheared off the side of the bridge, lashing out at anything they could reach. One struck rather close to him, leaving a scorch mark on the burnt orange hull, but they seemed drawn more to Megatron than Optimus. Maybe it was the dark energon, maybe it was his leaking spark energy, but he was struck by space bridge lightning at least twice more.

Optimus was grateful it wasn't attracted to him.. All he could do when the lightening flickered close was stand still and cover his optics so they didn't blind him.

The repeated thunk of his magna-clamps clutching and releasing the hull was lost in the now overpowering hiss and sizzle of the space bridge energy. The event horizon crawled across the outside of the _Ark _in a line of white that was too brilliant for Optimus to look at directly. The event horizon was only a couple of yards away when he finally made it to the elevator doors and he had to shield his optics and blindly reach for the lift controls as he reached them.

He stepped into their relative safety, only turning around once he was inside the elevator. He could see Megatron drifting unconscious directly in front of him through the open doors, and while he felt remorse, it wasn't for leaving the other mech out here offline and unprotected.

"Farewell Megatron," Optimus muttered to the offline Decepticon, "I hope we never meet again."

But he knew it was a futile hope even as the doors shut and cut Megatron off from view.

Optimus had just removed the magna-clamps when a sudden lurch from the ship sent him banging into the far wall of the elevator.

He threw a hand to his audio and tried to raise Jazz as the _Ark_ around him gave a thunderous groan of stressed metal.

_"Prime!" _Jazz answered so fast he must have been anticipating Optimus' call. _"We're in the bridge, but something ain't right. Hound ain't sure how but there's-"_

A burst of static squealed in Optimus' audio, making him flinch and cutting off Jazz's panicked words. Optimus couldn't remember the last time he'd heard the former reporter-bot sound so out of control.

"Jazz calm down." He told him as soon as the static subsided. "And repeat that last, you were cut off."

Jazz did not calm down. If anything his voice got even higher. _"I said there's dark energon in the space bridge!"_

Optimus felt his spark stop at the words. Time around him seemed to stutter, his thoughts were racing so fast at the implications.

"Frack." He heard himself mumble.

He took off for the bridge at a run as soon as the elevator doors opened wide enough to let him by.

...

Starscream was just as surprised by the spread of dark energon through the space bridge as the Autobots were. He couldn't be certain it had overtaken the fleeing Autobots now that the _Ark _had disappeared into the vortex, but they must have noticed the violet energy coming for them by now.

"Soundwave, report!" Starscream snapped on the Decepticon's command bridge, optics never leaving the space bridge vortex. The bridge lightning seemed to be focusing on something just outside its event horizon, striking it again and again until surely all that could be left was a hunk of twisted space junk. But with each strike, more violet energon leaked into the vortex, tracked back by the energy strikes. Already sickly purple light was swirling into the space bridge's green-yellow light.

"Dark energon is accelerating the space bridge's collapse." Soundwave spoke in his usual monotone, a strange buzz to his words hinting at his own glitching vocorder. "It's destabilizing rapidly and won't be able to stay open for much longer."

Starscream narrowed his optics at the flickering bridge, it's circular vortex flickering with each new lightning strike, only to reappear dimmer than it had a moment before. "What is it hitting?" He snapped at a nearby Vehicon. "Did the Autobots leave something behind to drain the space bridge's power so we couldn't follow them?" It's what he would've done if he'd been weak enough to have to flee a pursuer.

The Vehicon busied himself with running scans on the object at the center of the energy strikes. "I'm having difficulty seeing past the wall of energy," he said in a high pitched voice.

Starscream turned on him, grabbing him tightly by the back of the neck and yanking him back so that the Vehicon was forced to look up at him. "I am not in the mood for excuses cannon fodder, now run it again!"

The Seeker just barely made out widening optics behind the Vehicon's red visor as his talons dug little rents into the soft spots under the nameless Decepticon's audios. "Y-yessir." He stammered.

With a sneer, Starscream jerked the Vehicon towards his station, releasing him so abruptly that he almost flew into it. The Vehicon immediately began to tap his board furiously, a sharp clicking sound rolling out of his board.

While he waited for the results, Starscream spun round to the mech at the helm. "Take us in. We'll follow the Autobots and destroy them before they can escape."

"Belay that order." Soundwave said almost before Starscream was done speaking. "We will wait for Lord Megatron."

Starscream turned towards the expressionless mech, his own face furious at being contradicted. "Lord Megatron is not here Soundwave. For all we know Prime extinguished him in that last battle. We are going after the Autobots!"

Soundwave wasn't moved. "Negative. Lord Megatron lives. We wait."

Starscream felt his hand ball into a shaking fist. Every turn. They opposed him at every turn! "Lord Megatron-" he started in a chocked off voice.

"He's there!"

The two officers turned towards the surprised voice only to find the Vehicon Starscream had grabbed sitting stiffly in his chair. He was staring out the viewport with his mouth hanging open, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Optics scanned the view port, but the familiar form of Megatron was nowhere to be seen.

"Clarify." Soundwave buzzed.

The Vehicon finally dragged his attention from the view port, optics darting from Soundwave to Starscream nervously. With no small amount of uncertainty, he pointed at the screen in front of them. "The lightning," the Vehicon gasped in a small voice, "Lord Megatron is at the center of it."

"What?!" Starscream shouted, voice rising again. He spun on his heel to face the view screen. The space bridge energy still forked off the main vortex, striking what he had assumed was space junk over and over, tracking back violet energy with each successive strike.

His optics went wide as he realized it made sense, only to narrow as new opportunities presented themselves. "Is he still functioning?" He asked.

The Vehicon checked his readouts, optics darting over the screen for the information. "I believe so." He finally said. "The space bridge energy makes it impossible to know for sure from just our scans-"

He was cut off by a great flash of light from the space bride that made every Decepticon shutter their optic lenses or risk going blind. Starscream slitted his open when the light faded enough for him to see what was happening without risking damage to himself.

It was like something had struck the bridge. The energy strikes were wild now, erratic and chaotic as they lashed out at anything outside of the bridge's circumference. More violet energon – darker and deeper than before – discolored the space bridge light now, seeping out from the center of the vortex.

"It's Lord Megatron!" The Vehicon shouted even as one of the energy strikes struck their ship's hull, making them rock. "He's entered the space bridge!"

Course words shot through Starscream's processor as he scowled at the view port as it lit up with light almost unbearable to look at. _"Blast him!"_ Starscream swore at Megatron's disappearing frame. _"Why can't he just die like everyone else?! Now I have to follow him and save his sorry aft or risk the Decepticons turning against me!"_

Growling in the back of his vocal processor, Starscream threw out a hand and pointed at the destabilizing bridge with a sharp digit. "Follow him through before it collapses!" Starscream commanded, voice shrill with impatience. "_Now!_"

Nobody argued with him this time as the helmsmech opened the engines all ahead full.

...

Optimus burst through the doors onto the command deck and froze when he saw the image from the rear camera displayed on the view screen in front of him. Tendrils of violet lightning were crackling up the sides of the space bridge tunnel, overpowering its natural green-yellow and white light, consuming them into a violet glow that made Optimus' spark shrink instinctively at the sight.

"What's happening?" He shouted.

Nobody turned away from their monitors. "Dark energon has infected the space bridge!" Hound called out even as his fingers flew across his console. "It's overpowering the bridge's natural energy and destabilizing it. It can't hold together for much longer."

"Can we outrun it?" Optimus asked as he came to a stop behind Sideswipe in the center of the bridge, optics never leaving the view screen.

"We've diverted all power to the engines, but it's not enough." Ironhide called out from his left.

Optimus thought quickly, optics darting across the monitors in front of him. "Drop the shields and feed the extra power to the engines." He ordered.

"But-" Sideswipe started in front of him.

"Shields won't protect us from the dark energon _or _the space bridge if it collapses with us still in here." Optimus told him sternly. "Now do it!"

Sideswipe did, still uncertain but out of any better ideas. He keyed the shields off and was rewarded by a high pitched keening rising to the outside of his audio hearing as the _Ark's _engines worked harder. The renewed g-forces pressed him back in his seat a brief klik before the _Ark's_ artificial gravity adjusted to the new speed. Gritting his denta together hard enough he could hear them creaking inside his head, Sideswipe tightened his grip on the steering and fought to keep them straight as eddies of energy made them bump and swerve off course.

"The dark energon is still gaining!" Jazz shouted from where he stood behind Hound. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

Sideswipe's arms jerked as they avoided another temperamental lightning strike. "Mute it Jazz!" He ground out past his gritted denta. "Or do you wanna give this a try?!"

The door to the bridge opened before Jazz could find the right way to tell Sideswipe to shove it up his tailpipe. "I don't know what the frack you just did but it cut the power to my med bay!" Ratchet yelled as he crossed the bridge in long, angry strides. "I got wounded bots down there that-" he paused, arms spread from his sides as he suddenly noticed the green boot prints on the deck floor. "What the-? Optimus! You're tracking energon all over the deck! What the heck are you thinking not having that looked at-_holy Pit!"_

The only thing that could have distracted the medic from Optimus' energon trail were the spears of dark energon that were now visible on either side of them. It crawled past the _Ark _in violet flashes, gaining the lead as it fed off the space bridge energy, glowing brighter on their view screens the more power it consumed.

"The vortex is coming apart!" Hound shouted.

"There's the exit!"

Sparks rose into throats at Sideswipe's shout. He was right. In front of them was a pinprick of steadily growing light, exactly the same color and brilliance as the space bridge event horizon they had entered outside of Cybertron.

"We're not going to reach it in time." Ratchet observed, using the same grim but certain voice he used to tell bots there was nothing left he could do.

"Give her everything we've got." Optimus called out anyway, knowing full well they already had. Around them the space bridge was already starting to dissolve, real space showing through the cracks in the tunnel even as they flew past them. The dark energon had a definite lead now. It would overtake the space bridge before they could get out.

"C'mon, _c'mon_," Sideswipe muttered to himself as he struggled with the _Ark's _controls. "It's right _there_."

There must not have been a vacuum in the space bridge tunnel, because the horrendous sound of something rending into pieces shuddered through the _Ark_ so loud that everyone onboard felt the sound as vibrations in their chests. The _Ark _shook as the sound blew out whole systems, making her veer wildly to the right and sliding sideways towards the exit with the sheer force of her momentum. Sideswipe tried to right them, but even with the yolk twisted all the way to the side, he got no response.

"Oh slag no-" he started.

_"Hold on!"_ Someone else shouted over him.

Dark energon finally overtook the bridge, leaving its walls a seething tornado of cracked, violet light. Purple energy strikes hit the _Ark's _hull, blowing out sections of the ancient ship's wiring and leaving whole levels without power. Unable to hold together with the dark energon ravaging its hardware, the space bridge finally collapsed in on itself before exploding outward in shards of electric energy.

The _Ark_ fell prematurely back into real space with a force that left everyone onboard feeling like they'd just been socked in the stomach.

Engines dead, hull still crawling with dark energon energy, the _Ark _drifted in the darkness between stars, unable to call for help.


	46. Chapter 46: The Other Side of the Cosmos

New chapter, new planets, and hopefully new reviews when you're done. It feels so weird to be putting up the last few chapters so I really hope you're excited to read them! Especially since I've got new bots for you! :3

Thanks to everyone for reviewing and reading and I hope to hear from you again! I hope you li~ike it!

...

The Long Road Home

46 – The Other Side of the Cosmos – 46

Cosmos was a solitary bot by nature. Quiet and shy, he had kept to himself even as a young mech attending the Jihaxian Academy for Science and Technology in Crystal City. He hadn't made any friends there, but he _was_ the only mech in his class to be awarded three different degrees for six stellar cycles worth of study. And when he had been offered the opportunity to be head of a project that monitored the life of various stars in the outer rim and their affects on various alien planets, he had jumped at the chance.

There had been a few others with him at first – two other mechs and a guardian femme and her young charge to be precise – but they'd long since left. Arctinus had been recalled back to the Hub shortly after Cosmos had arrived and HQ had transferred the femme scientist Streamline to a different, but just as miniscule, base on one of the system's other planets. Her charge and apprentice Glyph had gone with her. That had been the last they'd heard from HQ about anything, even when the last of Cosmo's team, Hack, had been extinguished by one of the local fauna. By all appearances, Cybertron had forgotten they were even out here.

Cosmos didn't really mind. He was a scientist – an observer of the natural universe – and the bots at HQ were definitely not. Mostly led by military mechs that served directly under the new Prime – Sentle? Sentient? Cosmos could never remember what the mech was called – they were always watching out for alien threats than anything else. Cosmos could well do without their nosy influence into his experiment for the rest of his life-cycle, thank you so much.

Today he was out in the seventh sector, the farthest his satellite field could reach in this particular observational experiment. One of his satellites out this way had been glitching the past few orbital cycles, leaving him unable to see Garrus-9 like he needed. Cosmos had tried correcting it from his base down on the planet's surface, however the problem had remained, leaving satellite G-7 to drift out of its pre-prescribed range.

He lifted off from Organic Central (his planet didn't have a proper name, but Arctinus had so dubbed the little green and brown ball long before Cosmos had appeared) his thrusters smoothly carrying him up into the outer reaches of the small planet's atmosphere. The friction of the air against his outer plating caused a fierce heat over his green and yellow hull, but Cosmos had gotten used to it long ago. Soon he was out of the grip of Organic Central's gravity and sailing smoothly through the inky black towards satellite G-7.

The large satellite came into view four breems later and Cosmos transformed back into his bipedal mode, cutting his boosters so that he sailed on momentum the rest of the way.

"Hey Sev," Cosmos thought to the satellite as he used his maneuvering thrusters to slow his approach, "how're you doin' out here by yourself? Did Gi-Gi give you that virus she had last orn?"

'Gi-Gi' was satellite G-5, the closest satellite to G-7's stationary position. Smaller and lighter, she monitored the binary stars the next system over.

Sev, naturally, didn't answer as Cosmos pried open the side plating that protected Sev's inner workings. Nor did Cosmos expect the inanimate object to talk back. It was just that with so few reasons to speak, he needed an excuse to say _something_ once in a while, so he talked to his satellites. He'd been doing it since he left university. Streamline had been the only one here that hadn't thought it was weird.

"Let's see..." Cosmos muttered to himself as he released the plate to drift in space next to him. He scrutinized Sev's inner workings, noting corroded wires and the faint reddish brown discoloration on some of the circuits.

"Cosmic rust!" Cosmos grumbled with a frown. "No wonder you can't give me a good picture." He gently moved aside blue coated wires that so far showed no sign of the infection only to discover a whole patch of corrosion on Sev's long range scanner.

Cosmos grunted. "Well at least it's not extensive enough that I need to bring you out of orbit." He grumbled. "But it's still going to take a heck of a long time to get you sorted. Hold on, I think I have my Rust-Eez in here somewhere..."

He dug through his subspace, moving aside his exterior tool belt and the emergency beacons that would be of no practical use to him in any kind of emergency out here. Streamline was no medi-bot and she was orbits away. And what was he going to do? Call HQ for help? Yeah right.

Shunting aside thoughts of his demise if he got hurt out here, Cosmos finally found the spray bottle of Rust-Eez and pulled it out. He gave the inside of Sev a good coating, even the parts that hadn't been infected as a preventative, then set about scrubbing the corrosion away. A cloud of reddish rust immediately billowed out of Sev's internals and Cosmos turned away and locked his face mask into place to keep from breathing it in.

He had just started the long task of re-wiring Sev when he got a ping on his internal communicator. He turned off his soldering iron, letting it drift at optic level as he lifted his protective optic shield and peered down at his left arm guard.

He frowned when he finished reading the message. It was an alert from Gee-Wun, his oldest satellite whose rotation currently placed it on the far side of Organic Central. The old satellite had received an automatic message from the extended network of atmospheric sensors Hack had left behind. They were picking up energy readings from that antique space bridge that hung between Organic Central and its sister planet, EFF-13.

Cosmos frowned. "That can't be right." He mumbled to himself. "That thing hasn't worked in vorns. Even Arctinus couldn't use it to get back to Cybertron. He had to take a ship to the Hub and use theirs. How can Gee-Wun possibly be picking up energy readings?"

He directed Gee-Wun to run a more conclusive scan, and not a cycle later the automatic ping hit his alert system.

"Huh," Cosmos mumbled as he peered under his optic shield at the results, "it's all clean now. No energy traces whatsoever."

He dismissed the alert and slid the optic shield back into place before picking up the floating soldering iron again. "Must've been a glitch in the system." He muttered as he thumbed on the iron again. "Guess I'll swing by and check on Gee-Wun after this. Poor old guy needs more care nowadays than the rest of you." He told Sev as he leaned in close to the satellite.

The squat, green mech bent low over Sev's systems again, slender tip of the soldering iron solidifying loose connections. It was awhile before he noticed anything else.

The first he was aware of any strangeness heading his way was the slight shaking of Sev's newly attached wires. He was soldering the last one, but the wire kept slipping away from him before he could pin it down. At first he thought it was his hand shaking with fatigue, causing the iron to slip, but then he realized that it was the wires themselves that were shaking.

Cosmos frowned. No, they weren't shaking; they were vibrating. Some unseen force was vibrating them into motion.

But that wasn't possible, Cosmos thought as he stared at the barely trembling wires. They were in a vacuum. No waves could reach the satellite out here without air or water to carry them. Cosmos knew that electric or magnetic waves didn't need air or water to move, so it was possibly something like that could be vibrating Sev's wiring, but then where was it coming from? There was no source out here as far as he could see. And his sensors weren't detecting anything within a thousand mile radius except for the small planet at his back.

A stray strand of electrical energy suddenly flicked across Sev's outer casing – like a flash of static through a blanket in a dark room – and Cosmos blinked behind his optic shield. Well that was strange. How could static have built up in Sev's internals way out here?

It shouldn't have been possible, but even as Cosmos stared at Sev in confusion, another electric strand arced across his plating. And then another, and a third.

Cosmos surveyed the surroundings once more, but all he saw were stars. There was nothing out here that could be-

The maintenance bot suddenly froze. There, maybe a mile away from him, an impossible lightning strike forked through empty space. It was so fast and he had only caught a glimpse of it, that at first Cosmos mistook it for a comet.

But another electrical energy strike speared off of the first one, and then another tangled with it to form a rat's nest of glowing energy, until finally a jagged sheet of lightning shot through the background of space and stars and tore open the spot like it was fabric.

Cosmos turned away, flinging a hand over his face as if that could stop the energy from striking him down. It was so bright that white spots of static fuzzed through his optic sensors, even through the yellow tint of the optic shield.

He could only see a sliver of what was happening past his bulky arm, and he didn't fully understand what it was until later. But in that moment it was all brilliant light followed by dark holes streaked with green, yellow, and violet colored energy. But they only lasted a micro-klik before the colors faded, leaving only a dark orange hole behind them.

_"It burned out my color sensors!" _Cosmos thought in panic when the burnt orange swath of color refused to leave his sight.

He dropped his arm from his face and hastily stared at his digits, flexing them and turning his hands over so he could see them. But he could still see that they were green and yellow. He could still see colors.

_"But then..." _Cosmos thought as he slowly raised his head, _"what is...?"_

He gasped when he saw it, even though the sound went unheard in the vacuum. Before him, hanging sideways above Organic Central, lightning strikes like the ones that had vibrated through Sev crawling over its hull, was a ship.

A burnt orange, blasted to Pit and back, honest-to-Primus Cybertronian exploration ship.

Cosmos stared at the vessel. Scorch marks scared the rounded hull and all of the running lights were dead. If it hadn't been so close to him – and if it hadn't been crawling with energy – Cosmos never would have been able to discern the dark orange ship from the void behind it.

For long cycles, Cosmos floated there, staring at it with his mouth hanging open behind his safety mask. He waited for something to happen – either the power to come back on lighting up its massive bulk or a smaller ship to leave the hanger and descend towards the unnamed planet below them – but when nothing did, Cosmos activated his thrusters and dared to go closer.

He cut his thrusters two-thirds of the way through the journey, preferring not to give anyone on board a bright target if they turned out not to be friendly. It wasn't unheard of for other races to steal Cybertronian ships. They were well made and efficient and stories told that pirates in particular liked them because there weren't that many beings that preferred to mess with the power of a Cybertronian hull-mounted cannon. Cosmos wasn't sure if those stories were true, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to find out.

He maneuvered himself right up to the hull, reaching out with broad hands to touch the ship, reassure himself it was indeed real.

A shock of white energy snapped at his hand when he made contact and Cosmos jerked back. "Yep," he thought as he shook out his hand, "definitely real."

Using his maneuvering jets, he glided along the top of the ship, careful of any protrusions coming his way as the mammoth vessel continued to spin listlessly on its x-axis. He finally found a view port and peered through it, but the room beyond was dark and unused as far as he could tell. Maybe the crew was extinguished?

His spark twisted at the thought. Just because he didn't want a bunch of bots coming in and mucking up his silence didn't mean he wanted them all to die either.

_"Maybe they just have a skeleton crew," _Cosmos tried to console himself as he glided towards the nose of the vessel, _"or maybe they're hurt and can't reach a comm."_

That worried him. True, Organic Central had no medi-bot, but he did have a circuit slab and a general identifier that could diagnose simple injuries and illnesses and assist with the cure. It wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing. If someone on board needed help, he could at least get them planet side and onto the circuit slab. If their injuries weren't too extensive, they would live.

He found a hull entrance and tried to key it open. It refused him of course, but with the engines still offline and none of the security protocols up and running, it didn't take much for Cosmos to pry open the door. He drifted inside to find an airlock. The far door was still sealed tight to keep out the vacuum, but once he had manually re-sealed the outer door, he found the manual override that re-pressurized the airlock. He waited a cycle for air to vent into the room and stabilize before he pried open the inner door and stepped into the main bulk of the ship.

The inside was just as dark as the outside, although it was somewhat warmer. A long hallway stretched in front of Cosmos, various intersections leading off at different points ahead of him. Not knowing what else to do, Cosmos shuffled forward, peeking down the different intersections for signs of life, but keeping straight to avoid getting lost.

By the time he passed the third intersection without seeing any crew, alive or not, Cosmos began to worry. _"The ship couldn't have just jumped here by itself."_ He thought to himself as he walked, not daring to break the absolute silence. _"Not without someone giving it directions. They could have used a remote I suppose but unless they've perfected a transwarp drive powerful enough to guide a ship this large-"_

Cosmos gasped, even that small sound unbearably loud in the silence. _"The space bridge!"_ He realized. _"Of course, the energy readings Gee-Wun picked up from the space bridge! Whoever was guiding the ship was trying to reactivate the bridge, but the tunnel collapsed before they could reach the other side and the ship dropped out here."_

Cosmos looked around him again at the dark walls and powerless lights, frame relaxing slightly in the dark. He could see no signs of structural damage, but he knew that the ship's systems must be an entirely different story. _"No wonder it doesn't have power." _Cosmos thought. _"A shock like that...I wouldn't be surprised if its entire motherboard fried."_

He continued walking down the hallway, a little more confident than before. _"Well at least I know why it's empty. HQ wouldn't dare send bots through an unstable space bridge." _A thought occurred to him and his optics glowed brighter in the darkness as his optic ridges rose. _"They must be trying to repair the bridge and reestablish contact with Organic Central!" _He realized. _"It would be nice to see Cybertron again. Have some real high grade and sit by the Sea of Rust under Moon Base I. I wonder how many vacations days Streamline and I have built up out here...?"_

The hallway curved ahead of him and ended in a closed door. Knowing the ship was empty, but seeing no reason to hurry back to Organic Central, Cosmos wedged his fingers between the seam and pulled the doors apart. Maybe if he could find the bridge he could contact HQ. Let them know about Hack...

The door slid open smoothly unlike the outer doors, revealing a round room whose walls were lined with more doors, probably leading to more hallways that led to more rooms in different parts of the ship. Cosmos didn't know and he had little time to wonder about it.

Because in the center of the room, standing in two neat and ordered lines, a group of mechs stood, each one with a high powered blaster aimed at his unprotected spark.

Cosmos blinked at them, but they only stared back, optics hard and bright in the darkness.

"Um..." the little maintenance bot dared to vocalize when they neither moved nor spoke, "hi?"

...

The mechs led Cosmos through the ship and, not wishing to make them even more unhappy than they already appeared to be, Cosmos followed them quietly. They had just stopped outside a double door that took up the entire width of the hall when the lights above them flickered, florescent light spasming in the confined space before steadying out with a buzz of electricity.

"Thank Primus," one of the mechs leading Cosmos grumbled, "those night vision lens shutters give me the mother of all processor aches."

The mech he was talking to grunted an agreement as he keyed open the door release and stepped through. Unsure what he was expected to do, Cosmos stared after him, and then turned toward his remaining guide. Despite the drawn gun and the sharp scowl on his face plates, Cosmos hesitated to call him a guard. If the elaborate scanners on his arm-guards and the haphazard armor plating were anything to go by, he'd been a maintenance bot too at one time.

Cosmos blinked at the scowling mech. "Now what?" He asked, voice slightly muffled behind his face plate.

The other bot just vented a frustrated sigh and ran a hand down the back of his helm. "Just go in, alright? Yeesh, _neutrals._" He muttered the last, optics rolling up towards the ceiling in a gesture Cosmos had never seen before. Maybe these bots weren't from Cybertron after all...?

Cosmos stepped into the busy room hesitantly, his wide boots making muted clangs against the deck. He had never been on a ship this big before. Ahead of him, roughly a dozen different mechs sat behind advanced station monitors, all calling out information out at once. After so many vorns of solitude, it was enough to make Cosmos' processor threaten to overload and crash.

He tried to back step out of the room, just to get away from the shouting, but the door slid closed before he could get out. Cosmos spun around, optics wide with nerves, and saw that the irritated mech with the impending processor ache had not followed him.

His partner though, was already halfway across the room. "Hey Prime!" He called above the noise. "That spark signature the _Ark _picked up was a bot. We found him down in level twelve. He must've drifted in from outside while the power was down."

Cosmos felt his optics start to fritz at the words. Prime? As in _the _Prime? By the AllSpark what was Sentinel Prime (Cosmos could have slapped himself. Of _course_ that was his name! Why could he never remember that?) doing all the way out here? And in a dilapidated, old exploration ship no less. Cosmos had only seen holovids of his leader, but with his military history and claim to fame as the mech that had beaten back the Quintessons, Cosmos would have expected nothing less than a state of the art warship.

But the mech that stepped forward was most definitely _not _Sentinel Prime. Broad shoulders and blocky, the mech was twice as tall as the stubby maintenance bot. Cosmos had to lean his head back just to meet the mech's faceplates. He dimly noticed a red and blue paintjob but that wasn't as important in Cosmos' mind as the glyphs of power etched onto the side of the warrior Prime's helm.

And there was no doubt in Cosmos' processor that this Prime was every inch the warrior Sentinel Prime had been. Well built and strong, his arms still bore injuries from a recent battle and cuts marred his face. One bled so much energon down his throat that Cosmos wondered how the mech was still online.

Cosmos stared at the Prime, optics wide and frightened while his spark froze in his chest from the sheer awe that threatened to overwhelm him. Cosmos couldn't help but think that he looked like one of the Thirteen himself, the fearsome warrior Primes that drove back Unicron at the very beginning of time.

Optimus, exhausted by their hasty escape, had no idea how he appeared to this one lost mech, stranded out here for only Primus knew how long now. But he stared up at him with round optics in a strange mix of fright and awe.

It made the Prime distinctly uncomfortable, but he was too tired to really care.

"Greetings," Optimus told him solemnly, "my name is Optimus Prime."

He paused, obviously expecting similar introductions from Cosmos, but the little bot only stared at him, unable to make his mouth move. Fortunately with his face mask still locked in place, no one could see that it was hanging open.

Prime shuffled uncomfortably when Cosmos continued to stare up at him. "We come from Cybertron, however the space bridge we were traveling through broke down before we could reach our destination. Can you tell us where we are?"

A strangled gurgle of static managed to squeak out of Cosmos' vocorder. He immediately felt his faceplates heat with embarrassment.

The Prime blinked at him and Cosmos wanted nothing more than to dive out the nearest air lock and bury himself in his satellite repairs. The only thing that stopped him was the gruff snort that appeared on the edges of the bubble that surrounded him and the Prime.

"Now look what you've done Optimus." A neon-yellow mech with the medic's cross emblazoned on his shoulders said roughly as he gestured at Cosmos with a scarred hand. "You've gone and scared the mech right out of his processor."

Not quite understanding, Optimus turned and stared at the medic, but Ratchet's only explanation was a roll of his optics and a pointed stare at Optimus' frame.

For the first time since he'd gotten back onboard, Optimus looked down at himself. He gave a small start when he saw the state he was in. Energon spatter was flecked across his chest plates and had run down his windshield in half dried lines of fluid. He felt his throat and his hand came away the dark green color of drying energon.

No wonder the strange little mech was staring at him, Optimus thought as he frowned down at his hand. He must look like something straight out of a horror vid.

Optimus lowered his hand, venting a sigh of resignation. Trying to wipe away the energon now would only smear it further, making a gruesome sight. "I apologize for my appearance." He told the still nameless mech. "War is not a pleasant sight."

Some inkling of confusion seeped onto the mech's impassive face at that. "What war?" He asked.

Optimus was surprised by the mech's strange accent, but his ignorance didn't elicit the same reaction. "I am afraid, stranger, that war has consumed Cybertron in your absence. We are Autobots, sworn to protect life in all its forms against the Decepticons who now ravage our world."

The short mech blinked at his words. "Oh," he said and then where Optimus expected more, he added. "Cosmos."

Optimus shared a confused look with Ratchet standing nearby, but the medic only shrugged. It didn't mean anything to him either.

"I'm sorry?" Optimus tried.

The green and yellow mech blinked, and the action seemed to loosen the rest of him. "My name." He said in his peculiar voice. "It's Cosmos. Maintenance bot number 24 dash 781, Scientific Division, observer class." He rattled off his id number and class specs, old habits falling back into place.

Prime stared at him as if he had no idea what any of that meant. The big mech in black armor behind him though suddenly snapped his digits. "Yer that lost maintenance mech!" He exclaimed in a gruff voice. "The one Command was lookin' for before Megatron came to power." He nudged Prime in the side, making the bit bot flinch as pain lanced up his side, and Cosmos' optics widen at the familiar gesture. "He's the last guy to go through the space bridge!" He very nearly shouted, throwing a hand out at Cosmos.

Cosmos just blinked at him, tilting his head in confusion. "I'm lost?" He asked. This was news to him.

"Yeah," the black-armored mech said, and then he peered at him with narrow optics, "ain'tcha?"

Cosmos shook his head at him. "I didn't think so." And then realizing that they were not from HQ like he had previously thought, Cosmos added, "I was stationed on the planet below as Head of Xeno-Planetary Observation."

The mechs stared at him. "So yer _supposed_ to be out here in the middle a'nowhere then?" The black mech asked.

Cosmos nodded.

"And just where is _here_ exactly?" The medic asked taking a step closer to the small group and crossing his arms over his chest.

Cosmos had to actually think about that. He hadn't had to remember the station's actual coordinates for so long now, but like his id number it came back easily enough. "Station number G257 located in the fifth sector of system designated GA4834-"

"That's the outer edge of the Gamma System." The medic interrupted him, clarifying for the others' sakes.

Prime and the black armored mech nodded. "But what's the planet called?" The latter asked slowly, as if he thought Cosmos might not understand him.

Cosmos blinked, too uncertain about what was going on to take offense. "Organic Central." He told them.

There was a pause where the three mechs shared a knowing look that Cosmos didn't understand. Then a wide smile appeared on the medic's face.

"Oh Sparkfinder's going to _love _that." He muttered. The black mech just chuckled in agreement.

Before Cosmos could ask who Sparkfinder was a message pinged on his long unused communication line. He answered it before the others could think to stop him.

"Hello?" He asked over the staticky line. "Streamline?" Who else could it be after all?

"Cosmos?" A youthful voice appeared instead of Streamline's more mature tones. "It's Glyph. Listen, you're not going to _believe_ what appeared over Effie's atmosphere!" She cried, obviously excited about something.

Cosmos glanced up at the Prime standing before him, flanked by the medic and the armored mech, surrounded by the general activity on the bridge of the ancient exploratory vessel hanging over Organic Central.

He blinked before answering, "Same goes for you."

...

Cosmos was still in a state of shock when he led Prime's communications officer and a handful of other mechs down to his base on Organic Central, leaving the _Ark_ to hover in the small planet's outer atmosphere. It was just so bizarre. He and Streamline had had no contact with anyone except each other for so many vorns he dreaded to tally them all, and now – out of _nowhere_ – a veritable fleet had appeared on their collective doorsteps!

The red communications officer gave a whistle as Cosmos led him to the base's singl large computer. "Sweet place ya got here man. I'm diggin' the retro-vibe ya got goin' on."

Cosmos stopped next to the computer, hand hanging over the switch that would bring the computer out of hibernation. "My what?" He asked, not understanding a single word of what the mech had just said.

"Ignore him," the Prime's silver lieutenant – Jazz, Cosmos remembered – said as he came up and slapped the taller red mech on the back. "Blaster's just big into Earth lingo. Friend of ours taught him and now he won't shut up about it." He said, shooting a grin at his friend.

Cosmos blinked at them. "Oh." He said. And then turned back to waking his relic of a computer out of sleep-mode.

"Teletraan-1, contact base EFF-13." He told the computer in a clear voice.

_"Authorization code required." _The smooth voice of the computer responded.

The Autobots jumped back a step at the voice. "Whoa!" Jazz shouted, pointing an almost accusing digit at the computer screen. "You got an actual linkup to Teletraan-1's CPU! How the heck you manage that?" He asked loudly, looking at Cosmos with what he was sure were wide optics under that visor. Blaster next to him looked just as stunned.

Cosmos couldn't see why. "All observational outposts are required to have a Teletraan-1 linkup." He told them. How could they not know that?

Something else occurred to the maintenance mech. "Your _Ark_ should have a hub to Teletraan-1 as well." He told them.

Blaster stared at him a nano-klik. "A what?"

Cosmos was beginning to feel the slightest bit impressed by how little they knew about their own ship. "A hub." He repeated. "It's what all the linkups - like mine and Streamline's -" he gestured to his own dust coated monitor, "connect to. The bigger they are, the stronger their connection. Given the size of your ship, yours should be pretty strong."

Jazz suddenly snapped his fingers as thoughts suddenly connected in his processor. "Like _the _Hub." He realized. "That great big floating space station lost ages ago. It was a giant connection to Teletraan-1 too."

Cosmos nodded. "The one on your ship won't be as powerful as the Hub," the Hub was _massive _Cosmos remembered, "but it should be pretty strong. Like your own mini Teletraan." He explained.

Jazz and Blaster stared at him. "_Really?_" Jazz gapsed.

Cosmos nodded. "I think so. All of the exploratory vessels made in the Golden Age had hubs to Teletraan. That way, they would always have a connection back to Cybertron no matter how far they went." He explained.

The two mechs stared at him a moment, and then turned to stare at each other. Wide grins suddenly broke open on both their faces.

"Sweet!" Blaster crowed, raising one of his hands palm out towards Jazz. "We got us a direct line back home!"

Jazz laughed, raising his hand as well and slapping it to Blaster's with a loud clapping sound that made Cosmos jump. "Old mono-optic'll never know what hit him!"

Cosmos didn't know who 'mono-optic' was or why they wanted to hit him, but he was still unnerved by the one-hand clapping gesture and decided not to ask. Instead he bent over Teletraan's keyboard and busied himself with typing in his authorization code.

_"Code accepted." _Teletraan announced after processing the string of numbers Cosmos had given him. _"Contacting Base EFF-13."_

The screen remained blank for a long cycle, and then in a bust of static, Streamline's face appeared on the large monitor, the old screen distorting her green and blue helm into obnoxious neon colors.

"Cosmos." She indicated the mech that was technically her supervisor with a slight nod. "Glyph told me we aren't the only ones with," she slid a chilling look at someone off screen, "unexpected guests."

Cosmos hadn't heard Streamline use that frosty tone since Glyph had been in her second frame and she'd gone off into the jungle in search of a Mechaniko Polywollyoptasaurica. Even Jazz and Blaster behind him noticed. Cosmos dreaded to think what her own guests had done to deserve that tone.

Cosmos nodded to his co-worker. He still wasn't sure how to tell her that the current Prime was one of his...guests, and before he could figure it out a smiling blue face bounded into the screen, knocking Streamline aside with a loud crash.

"Cosmos! Cosmos! You'll never guess what happened to us!" Glyph cried, practically jiggling with the force of her excitement. "Streama was out messin' with the sensors and I was stuck watchin' all the screens," she stuck out her glossa and made a face to show what she thought of that, "and then _BOOM!_ Alluvasudden the space bridge _exploded _with all this light and then there were all these ships floating over Effie and one of 'em used this really old radio signal – a real _radio_ signal! Can you believe that Cozzie? – to call us and I answer the line, cuz Stream still wasn't here and it'd be rude to just, ya know, _not_ answer, and this mech is on the other end! One I've never seen before! I haven't seen a new face since I was, like, _five _and Streamline brought me here from Cybertron and I don't remember that cuz I was still in my first frame and all. And now they're _here_ Cozzie! There are new bots here at our base and I get to talk to someone besides Streama!"

Her hyperactive verbal flow stemmed long enough for Glyph to do a little happy dance, hopping around in a circle as she wiggled her arms joyously above her head. Only to come to a sudden stop as her optics lit up with a femmeling fervor he hadn't seen since Cybertron. "And some of them are totally _cute!_" She gave a sudden gasp and threw out her arm, her finger pressing against the camera and leaving a smudge on the lens. "Like that one!"

Everyone in the room turned around to see who she meant, only to find a mech only a few vorns younger than Glyph and just her shade of blue standing there awkwardly.

"Um..." The blue mech mumbled nervously.

Cosmos looked up at the ceiling for patience. Glyph had never shared her guardian's reserved, quiet nature.

Streamline finally succeeded in prying her young charge away from the vidscreen, although the skinny blue femme got in a flirtatious wave of her digits and blew the Autobot mech a tiny kiss before Streamline finally managed to drag her out of the camera shot.

Jazz slapped the young mech on the shoulder, grinning wickedly. "Way to go Bluestreak." He told him with a grin. "And here you thought you'd never get a girl." He ribbed him.

Bluestreak just stood there stiffly, faceplates burning with youthful embarrassment, optics wide as he tried not to stare too obviously at the smudge prints Glyph had left behind on the screen.

Cosmos felt for the younger mech. He'd never known what to do around femmes either. Of course the last one that had twiddled her digits at him had been back in basic school in the youngling centers, so already Bluestreak had surpassed his skill level.

Cosmos dimly heard Streamline arguing with Glyph out of camera range – the microphone only picking up half of what they said – for a brief klik before a stern silver face wearing a white helm with a red crest appeared on the monitor.

Cosmos had never seen him before, but the lieutenant must have. "Prowler! You're still alive! Well how 'bout that?" Jazz said as he came forward. "I shoulda guessed you were there when we saw the scowl on that science femme's faceplates." He grinned.

Prowl's expression didn't change, but Cosmos had the feeling he was not amused. His optics flicked over each of the faces in the room, nodding almost imperceptibly at Jazz and Bluestreak. When his optics finally landed on him, Cosmos had to resist the strong urge to fidget.

All the black and white bot said though was, "Where's Prime?"

Jazz didn't look surprised at his friend's curtness. "Up on the _Ark_. Ratchet's looking after him. He got a bit banged up dealin' with ol' Buckethead."

_"Why can't they use names like normal bots?" _Cosmos wondered as Prowl nodded but didn't speak. Cosmos got the distinct impression they were trying to water down their conversation while in his and Streamline's mixed company.

"I need to speak with him as soon as possible." Prowl finally said, sharp optics going straight for Blaster. "It's imperative we go after the-" he halted with another quick look at Cosmos before finishing lamely, "thing as soon as possible."

This time Cosmos did fidget under the other mech's stare. Now he remembered why he didn't like living on Cybertron. It was filled with..._people_.

Jazz vented a sigh and slouched loosely against the wall next to him. "Oh don't be like that Prowl. Bots are good at spark. These guys ain't no different."

Prowl's optic ridges lowered over his optics in a baleful stare. "I'll be sure to tell that to the Decepticons when they rear their ugly heads again."

Jazz vented a put-upon sigh. "Paranoid." He grumbled.

"Delusional." Prowl shot back.

"Idiots."

The arguing bots looked up just as Streamline reinserted herself back into the viewscreen, planting a hand on Prowl's face and physically shoving him out of her way as she stepped into Cosmos' line of sight.

"What the-!" Prowl started but was cut off by the servo squishing his mouth sideways.

Streamline glared daggers at the Autobots behind Cosmos from the now very cramped camera angle. "Which one of you is the communications mech?" She demanded.

After a moment's hesitation, Blaster raised his hand a few inches.

It was enough to grab Streamline's focus. "Good. Then tell your Prime this when you send up this _nimrod's_-" she shoved Prowl again and he yelped indignantly, "message; if he thinks all these bots are staying here and clamoring up our experiment sights, _he's crazy!_"

Cosmos just sighed quietly as Streamline finally backed off, making Prowl snap upright as the sudden pressure was removed from his jaw.

The black and white mech rubbed at his jaw line as he glared at Streamline's retreating form, although she didn't remove herself entirely from the camera line and instead stood there defiantly with her arms crossed over her chest, just daring Prowl to tell her to leave.

Prowl glared at her a long cycle, but in the end did no such thing. "Just tell Prime to get down here as soon as Ratchet's done with him. The neutrals aren't all that patient and we need to leave. _Soon_." He stressed.

Jazz tried to tell him that the _Ark _was badly damaged, that it would be awhile yet before they could go anywhere, but Cosmos tuned him out, having heard all this before on the trip down from orbit as the Autobots had talked amongst themselves. Instead he snuck a tired glance to Streamline over the communications monitor and they shared a long, disparaging look.

So much for their peace and quiet.


	47. Chapter 47: The Battle Mask

Wow! I got the best set of reviews this week! I mean I was bouncing off the walls you guys were so great, especially after reading Guest's and Ginge1220's. You have no idea how much those kind words meant to me! So thank you. And guess what? We're only three away from 400! o.O Can you believe that? Because I can't!

xD Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for all those fantastic reviews! You guys are so nice and wonderful and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when this story is over and you won't have a reason to talk to me. And including this chapter there's only four chapters left. In less than a month we're going to run out of story! o.O

I mean, there's more to come after of course, but it's still stuck in my head so...yeah, that'll take some time. Hopefully not too much. I want to get something cool out in time with the new movie, so beware. ;3

It occurred to me a little while ago that I haven't actually figured out OP's battle mask. So this chapter is me remedying that. n_n; And, to L.M.L., yeah, I had a lot of fun with all the goofiness of the last chapter. And yes, while I was writing it "Rust-eez" just popped right out. It sounded so good that I didn't even realize it was a Cars thing until a few minutes later. Eh he he...oh well. ;)

Hope you guys like this chapter because editing it nearly drove me crazy... n_n;

...

The Long Road Home

47 – The Battle Mask – 47

After everything that had happened to him in the past orbit, being stuck in the medbay for a couple hours was nothing short of a relief to Optimus.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

So it was no spa day, but it was better than being in the middle of the building feud between Prowl and that femme scientist stationed on Organic Central's sister planet, EFF-13 or 'Effie'.

Optimus stared at the ceiling as Ratchet continued welding up the gash in his side. Ratchet had given him a handful of painkillers before he'd started so all he felt now was a strange tugging feeling as torn metal was reattached over newly connected circuitry.

Optimus vented a tired sigh before reaching up and scrubbing at his face with one hand, only to stop abruptly as he accidentally pulled at the long cut on his face. He grimaced at the sharp pain that ran from the lower part of his cheek down to his chin. Megatron must have cut him deeper than he had first thought.

"That's going to scar you know." Ratchet muttered without looking up from his work. "Nothing to be done about it." He huffed a dry laugh. "I wonder what Elita'll think of it."

His wry chuckle told Optimus the old medic already had his own theory about what Elita would think. Optimus himself didn't say anything. He just closed his eyes against the effects of the drugs threatening to make his head float away. His sparkmate was a distant point of light buried deep down in his spark. Even though they had shuttered their bond he could tell the distance between them now was immense. The space bridge must have sent them farther than they had guessed because he thought that if he tried to reach out to her now, his spark would snap with the weight of the distance between them.

He vented a core-deep sigh and unshuttered his optics just enough to see Ratchet straighten up next to him. "There," the medic said, wiping his hands on a cleaning cloth before throwing it to one side to join the rest of the energon-stained rags on his tray, "done. I would tell you to take it easy a few days before your healed," he drawled, fixing Optimus with a stern optic as he grumbled, "if I thought you would listen."

Optimus grunted noncommittally, not bothering to deny it, and then hauled himself into a sitting position so that his long legs dangled over the side of the surgical berth. That's as far as he went though as the room spun around his head.

Ratchet watched him a few steps away, arms crossed over his chest as he made note of every line in his friend's face, new and old. He stayed quiet as Optimus carefully lifted a hand and felt the cut that now dominated his lower faceplates. His optic ridges were drawn low over his optics in an intense, thoughtful look.

"Ratchet," he finally said, lowering his hand and gripping the edge of the berth again, "I need you to make something for me."

Ratchet watched his Prime a long moment, not exactly surprised at the vague request, but not exactly sure what Optimus was going to say either.

"What?" Ratchet asked.

Optimus was silent another cycle before answering. "I need a battle mask."

Ratchet huffed a dry laugh, relief flooding his shoulders. "Is that all?" He snorted again. "Having a stroke of vanity now, are we?"

Optimus turned a stare on Ratchet that said he didn't appreciate his incredulity, but he turned his optics back to the floor after a scant moment. "I should have had one made long ago." He rumbled.

Ratchet thought for a moment, and then vented a quiet sigh. He knew Optimus was taking their retreat from Cybertron hard – perhaps even harder than himself, and Ratchet felt like a part of his spark had stayed behind, making him feel stretched out and numb in his core – but he wasn't sure what Optimus was thinking either. Sure, a mask was helpful, but it wouldn't stop Megatron from taking his head off if he got the chance.

The medic vented a sigh and rubbed at his forehead, unable to put a digit on the subtext he felt running beneath Optimus' words. Not for the first time, he wished – however futilely – that Elita-One was here. She was better at dragging sense out of her sparkmate when he was determined not to make any.

"Alright spill it," Ratchet huffed with only a dash of his usual irritation as he turned his chair around so that he had to sit in it backwards, "you're not just worried about a new scar, so what are you talking about?"

He crossed his arms over the top of the chair's back and waited with his usual scowl.

Optimus stared hard at the floor another cycle, putting thoughts together. They didn't seem to want to click though and eventually he gave up with a frustrated vent of air.

"The whole planet Ratchet," he muttered, "he's overrun the whole slaggin' planet."

Ratchet blinked in subtle surprise at the slip in Optimus' usual calm. "I noticed." He said.

Optimus shuttered his optics and rubbed at the tight spot between his optic ridges. "All of Cybertron is at his mercy now, and you and I are well aware that he has none." He dropped his hand and looked up, his faceplates grim. "He'll drain every energy source dry, leaving everyone else to rust, before he just gets up and moves on and repeats the process somewhere else. And nothing we've done so far has even slowed his advance." He muttered sourly. "We've just put off the inevitable."

Ratchet looked down at his crossed arms, not arguing with Optimus' grim words. He felt much the same. So far trying to stop Megatron had been like standing in the middle of the Sea of Rust and trying to stop a hurricane with your bare hands.

"I mean," Optimus dropped into a more familiar cadence as he frowned over at Ratchet, finally meeting his optics, "did you ever think it would end like this?"

Ratchet bowed his head, optics boring holes into the floor beneath him. No, no he had never expected them to become exiles from their own home. Outcasts with nowhere to go and no one to help them. No safe harbor where they could wait out the dark energon storm as it raged.

"I don't think anyone did Prime." Ratchet finally said, his exhaustion leaking through into his voice. "I don't see how they could."

Optimus reached up and fingered the gash on his faceplates again. "For so long," he murmured as he put his hand down again, "I thought I could reason with him," he admitted, "somehow make him see that he was destroying his own ideals for the future."

He splayed his hands, palms up as if he surrendered to forces he realized were now far beyond his control. "But I haven't. I _can't_." He realized. "And now all of Cybertron pays the price.

"And this," he tapped his face again, flinching as he disturbed the clean gash crossing his face, "this is my reminder. Of how far Megatron is willing to go to get what he wants," he looked away from Ratchet, optics narrowing into a stare that gave the medic chills, "of how far _I _must be willing to go to stop him."

Ratchet didn't speak for a long cycle after that. True to his name, Optimus was probably one of the most optimistic bots he'd ever met, except for maybe Bumblebee and Ratchet blamed Aria for that plain and simple. For a long time now, Ratchet had both looked up to Optimus because of his optimism and looked down on him for maintaining such impossible standards in times like this. He had thought that if Optimus had lost some of that unattainable hope – lost the remains of the data clerk and become more of a Prime – then they could bring the fight back to the Decepticons on their terms.

But seeing it happen, Ratchet felt his spark cringe and shrink in on itself as it let go of the little hope he hadn't even realized he'd clung to.

The medic stood up with a grunt, moved his chair to its original place against the wall and stepped forward to put a hand on Optimus' shoulder, making him look up. "It's not the end yet." He said gruffly. "We're still here."

He let his arm drop back to his side. It wasn't much comfort, but from a devout pessimist like the old medic – who'd seen death on a grand scale even before the war had broken out as a trauma surgeon in Iacon's worst sector – it meant something. Not much, but it would have to be enough.

"I'll see what I can do about a mask," Ratchet said, getting back to Optimus' request. "It might take a few orbits. Usually 'Jack does armor. He's better at it."

Ratchet had his back to him, so he didn't see the slight twitch on Optimus' faceplates. He talked about Wheeljack in the present tense still. Even the pessimist had hope. It was refreshing given Ratchet's usual outlook.

"Just don't-"

Optimus looked up, sobering again as Ratchet struggled for words.

The medic didn't turn to face him as he sighed and scrubbed at his faceplates with a gray hand. "While you're off trying to stamp Megatron off the face of the galaxy," he said, "don't lose yourself in the process, alright?"

Optimus looked up at the medic, his head half turned so he could see his leader over his shoulder.

Finally Prime nodded. He had to, he knew, otherwise he risked turning into the thing he despised. And he would _not_ become Megatron. Even in order to prevent the mech from sweeping over the known universe like a plague.

Ratchet saw his agreement even though Optimus didn't speak. "Good." He mumbled. And then added in a louder tone. "Now you'd better get down to the planet. Apparently Prowl's normal negotiating prowess has been disrupted by an angry female version of Perceptor. I don't know how much longer he'll last before she decides to lock him in her cryo-stasis chamber and you _know_ how he can be when he comes out of cryo."

Optimus allowed himself a small, half-hearted grin. "You just don't want to have to deal with a half frozen Prowl."

Ratchet huffed. "Darn straight." He grumbled before walking stiffly from the room. There were other bots that needed his attention.

Optimus sat there a few cycles longer, alone with his thoughts. Once again, no matter what they did, the lengths they went through to prevent it, Megatron had come out ahead. Yes, he'd suffered his losses – if nothing else the collapse of the space bridge would keep him from following them for some time, but Optimus knew that wouldn't stop him forever – but he'd gained more in the long run, especially when he'd darkened the energon wells, driving the Autobots off planet and severely weakening his enemy.

Optimus vented a tired sigh, pinching the bridge of his nasal plating again as he thought of Elita and Magnus and their bots still trapped in that Pit. It would be near impossible to survive there for any significant length of time, but his brother and his sparkmate were smart. They would get out before the sadly literal deadline.

But more than anything...more than anything Optimus wished that he just wasn't necessary. That he could just lay down the title of Prime and walk away. And he knew if given the choice he would in an instant. Pass on the quest for the Matrix to some other unfortunate bot and just be Orion Pax again. He wouldn't be the same mech as before – he couldn't erase everything that had happened to him, all the things he had gone through to get here – but he wouldn't be so important. That by itself would have made his knees sag in relief.

For a moment he pictured it. Just him and Elita somewhere, living quiet, normal lives in the middle of Iacon, close enough to the Hall of Records that the commute wouldn't take half the orbital cycle, but far enough out that they weren't mired in the middle of bustling downtown. Somewhere safe where their younglings could play outside without their creators worrying about heavy alt-mode traffic. Somewhere where, in their old age, they could just sit together and watch the bots go by as the world turned around them.

Except it hadn't turned out that way. For some reason he couldn't fathom, the high council had picked him. Optimus questioned their decision every day of his existence, but who was he to argue with it? He had to believe that they had known what they were doing when they passed on the time honored tradition of searching for the Matrix of Leadership, of leading Cybertron in the interim until it was found and a true Prime was chosen, on to him.

And he couldn't abandon his Autobots to face Megatron alone now. He was in too deep, even though they deserved better.

With a muffled groan, Optimus got to his feet, once again shouldering the weight and responsibilities of a Prime without letting it crush him. He checked his comm. messages as he walked out into the main body of the medbay and sighed when he saw there were thirty-three missed calls, all from Prowl.

He rolled his optics as he commed his second back. Ratchet must not have been kidding when he said this femme scientist had it out for the black and white.

"Alright Prowl," he said when the line was answered, "what's going on now?"

...

Unlike the older scientists, Glyph was enjoying every nano-cycle the new comers were here. She'd never seen so much activity on Effie before! There were bots _everywhere_! And unlike Streamline, she thought it was fan-_tastic!_

The youngest femme was currently sitting on one of the numerous crates of equipment taking up space in the mess hall, one leg tucked under her and the other swinging over the side of her post. It was the biggest room in their compound, with enough space to seat fifty bots at least. But since it was only the two of them there, she and Streamline didn't spend a lot of time in here and it had largely become another storage room.

That had changed the moment the bots began to disembark from their flailing ships. Most of the equipment boxes had been moved to form makeshift chairs now that they had bots to fill them.

Right now only one of the long tables was occupied. Streamline and four other bots – including that black and white Prowl character that got such a rise out of the femme scientist – were gathered at the table, doing exactly what they'd been doing for the past three orbital cycles.

Bickering incessantly.

Glyph glanced up at the ceiling in a silent plea for Primus to have patience with her guardian. _"She's a good bot, honest Primus. She's just change-resistant is all. And that Prowl-guy really rankles her. You're probably the only one that knows why."_

Glyph sighed from her seat at the edge of the room. Usually she wouldn't be wasting time sitting here listening to the adults argue and point digits, not when there were so many new faces wandering around outside, but today was special. Today was the day the Prime was supposed to arrive.

The young femme sat up a little straighter in excitement. She'd never met a Prime before. She had, of course, heard of the fearsome Sentinel Prime from Streamline and, way back when when she'd just been a little bot, the mech Arctinus. The old mech used to tell her stories about the great Prime that had led the battle against the Quintessons, driving them out of Cybertron and freeing his brothers from their tyrannical rule.

Glyph started to fidget where she sat. She wondered if this new Prime – this Optimal or Optimist or whatever his name was – would be like that. Was he a great warrior too? Or maybe he was more of a scholar. One of the mechs from Prowl's ship – a white-yellow fellow named Bumper – had told her that before he was Prime, he'd been a data clerk in Iacon's Hall of Records.

Arctinus' old bedtime fables about unassuming Primes and heroes rescuing prima femmes from predacons swirled about in Glyph's processor and she jittered on her makeshift seat. She had to try hard not to squeak she was so excited! It was like a great big ball of adventure had just landed in her lap!

Raised voices redirected the femme's attention and she bit her lip to keep quiet, afraid Streamline would tell her to leave if she noticed her sitting there. The older bots were still going at it and apparently it wasn't getting any better.

"I do not care!" Streamline was saying rather loudly as she glared at the black and white mech standing across from her. "You cannot just _leave_ all these, these," she flung a slender arm out to take in the far door and the hoards of neutrals milling beyond it, "these _interlopers_ here! They will ruin my experiments!"

Glyph vented a quiet sigh, sagging sideways. Streamline and her blessed experiments. Sometimes Glyph thought she cared more about them than anything else on Effie's whole blessed surface. And she was even more protective of them now that she was only a stellar cycle away from completing them and having her hypothesis either proved or rebuked.

The neutrals present were about as understanding of Streamline's obsession with her experiments as Glyph was on a bad orbit. "Is that really the first thing that comes to your processor right now?" The only other femme present, an old stick in the mud named Spectra, demanded of Glyph's guardian. "Right after we tell you that Cybertron is no more?"

"Cybertron is still there." Prowl interjected firmly before Streamline could get in a comeback.

The oldest mech there, Crankshaft – or as Glyph liked to call him, Crankers – snorted roughly through his vents. "Yeah, much difference that makes when staying there woulda _killed_ us." He grumbled as he readjusted his hands where they rested on the head of his gnarled cane.

Prowl sent him a glare that sent chills down Glyph's spinal strut. "There _is_ a difference." The black and white insisted. "You are all acting like this is a permanent ordeal when it is only _temporary_." He tried to remind them.

Crankers just harrumphed again. "For some of us it _is_ permanent young bot. Unless you think an old mech like me'll survive the millennia or two it'll take the Core to clean out all the scrap it's infected with."

From the way the rest of them were stunned into silence, Glyph thought that hadn't occurred to any of them. Sure, they'd realized there was a chance that none of them would ever seen Cybertron again, what with the perils of the universe in general and these nasty Decepticons-bots Glyph had heard about from the newcomers, but none of them had thought they might not live to see it because they were too _old_.

It was Metalhawk that finally broke the silence. "It matters not at this point." He said in his steely voice. "Right now we need to concentrate on finding homes for everybody."

Streamline shot him a glare. "Well keep looking youngling because that sure as Pit isn't _here_." She told him, jabbing a finger at his chest plates. "I've been running these experiments since before you came out of the Well and I'll be slagged if I let you just run rampant over my life's work!"

Glyph had to bite her lower lip to keep from giggling. Streamline had said slag.

Metalhawk glared at the scientist, but Prowl beat him to the punch. "Well what would you have us do with them?" He demanded, not raising his voice in the slightest. "Let them wander the universe with no course, no direction? They'd starve before they even made it to the next system. _You_ have enough energon to last even with them here."

Streamline flung out a frustrated arm. "Then take it!" She told him, voice fuzzing out at the edges with her extreme emotion. "Take it and leave! Set up your refugee camp anywhere but here!"

"Where else is safe?" The mech demanded. "You think these bots can defend themselves?"

The neutrals took immediate offense. "Hey!" Crankers shouted, shaking his cane at the former law enforcement mech. "What'dya think we been doin' while yer off fightin' those Decepticreeps? Twiddlin' our thumbs? We've been lookin' after us and ours while you've been off playin' hero. If you ask me we'd be better off _without_ you frackin' Autobots around to muck everything up."

Prowl's optic ridges lowered, the only sign of anger Glyph had seen from the stoic mech today. "I'll remind you of that when the Decepticons find you again." He growled.

Spectra rolled her optics in a gesture Glyph had never seen before. "Well if they do find us it'll only be because they followed _you_ here in the first place. Since you're so keen to kill them all why don't we just point them in the direction and the two of you can go on wiping each other out. It'll save us all the trouble!"

Glyph stared at the old femme. She would _do _that to another Cybertronian?

Prowl pointed a stern digit at her over the table. "Listen Spectra-"

"Don't point at me that way you common law bot!"

"Will the two of you shut yer traps?"

"All of you stop it right now and get out of my base!"

Glyph covered her audios with her hands at that point as the talks degenerated into a full blown argument. "This is pointless!"She said, knowing no one could hear her anyway. "I mean what's the big deal anyway? So we get a few extra mouths to feed, so what? If anything we could use the extra hands." She grumbled.

It was true. Glyph and Streamline couldn't maintain the whole base by themselves. Not with Streamline absorbed by her experiments and Glyph assisting her and testing her own hypotheses in order to attain her masters in forensic science specializing in archeometry. And they had energon to spare too. Their drones mined it from a nearby, uninhabitable planetoid that wasn't even close to running dry.

"Yeesh," Glyph grumbled as she glared at the adults that had dissolved into bickering and jabbing digits at each other, "where's that Prime when you need him?"

A low whistle behind her made her turn. It wasn't the Prime like she had hoped, but possibly the next best thing.

"Man, lookit this mess." The silver mech with the blue visor Glyph had seen with Cosmos on Organic Central said. He was standing in the doorway, hands propped on his hips as he surveyed the room in front of him. "Never seen Prowl lose control of a meetin' like this before."

Glyph's faceplates split into a gigantic grin when she saw the stranger. "Hey!" She cried. "I don't know you!"

The mech grinned, light flashing cheekily across his visor as he cocked his head at her. "Well how 'bout that? I don't know you either."

Glyph giggled at him, skinny shoulders bobbing with her excitement. He was funny. "Well of course not. I live here and you don't. I'm Glyph!" She told him.

The mech chuckled at her. "I'm Jazz," he introduced himself, and then in another peculiar gesture Glyph had never seen before, he held out his open hand to her. "Put 'er there Glyph."

Glyph leaned forward and stared at his open hand. "Put what where?" She asked in confusion.

One of the mechs that had followed Jazz in leaned over and told her, "You're supposed to shake it. It's a way to say hello."

Glyph blinked at the waiting Jazz. Cybertron must have changed a lot since she and Streamline had left if this was normal behavior.

She reached out and awkwardly grabbed Jazz's hand and shook it vigorously like she shook a vial of liquid to mix up the contents.

She didn't think she did it right because Jazz and the other mech laughed. "Nice ta meet ya Glyph." Jazz told her before reaching out and mussing up the twin antenna on top of her head.

She frowned and quickly smoothed them again, for the first time noticing that Jazz wore a helm. All of the new-comers did now that she thought about it, even the bots not with the Autobot army.

Jazz sent her a mischievous grin before stepping into the room. "Alright mechs and femmes," he said loudly as he approached the tight knot of arguing bots, "what seems to be the problem here?"

All five of them turned toward Jazz and started talking at once, not even taking the time to explain what was going on to the new comer.

With Jazz out of the doorway, the string of mechs that had been standing behind him came into the room. Glyph recognized only one of them. "Cozzie!" She shrieked joyously, jumping off her crate and throwing out her arms to wrap around the small mech's short neck. "Cozzie you're here! I haven't seen you in so long! Not since Streama was sick and I called you, but that was ages and _ages_ ago!"

Cosmos awkwardly patted her back a couple times before standing there rigidly, as if he wondered what else he was supposed to do. "H-hi Glyph," he mumbled in his strange voice, "it's, ah, it's good to see you too."

Glyph giggled and eventually let go of the short mech. She stayed close to the only bot she knew well though, not wanting to get dragged into the growing argument as Jazz waded in to try and calm things down only to get sucked in himself.

A shy sound next to Cosmos made Glyph notice the mech standing there and her optics lit up when she recognized him. That was the other exciting thing about the new comers; for the first time in her life cycle there were mechs around that were _her_ age.

This one in particular was taller than her, but probably a few vorns younger. He was mostly blue, a more electric shade than her own subdued blue paintjob, and he had a crest on his helm almost identical to the black and white mech arguing with her guardian. He was staring at her shyly, as if he didn't know how he was supposed to react to her sudden attention, and he kept shuffling his feet as if he was embarrassed to meet her optics. That combined with the look on his faceplates made him positively _adorable_ to Glyph's mind.

Glyph sidestepped Cosmos with a giggle – much to the short bot's relief she was sure – and stood in front of the blue mech, hands clasped behind her back as she rocked eagerly on her heels in front of him.

"Hi there!" She chirped. But he just stared at her, faceplates heating at her undivided attention. "I'm Glyph, who're you?" She asked.

He opened his mouth to answer her but a strangled squeak escaped instead. Glyph giggled at him as his face flushed. The mech quickly cleared his vocal processor and tried again. "Bluestreak," he managed in a quiet voice.

Glyph grinned up at him. "Kissed a lot of femmes before Bluestreak?" She asked, never one to be subtle.

Bluestreak's mortified gurgle mixed with Jazz's sudden laughter behind them when he overheard her. Either Streamline noticed the noise or her guardian instincts must have finally registered her young charge's attentions because she suddenly broke off arguing with the strangers and turned her fuming optics on the young blue mech.

"And you! What are you doing there?" She demanded.

Bluestreak's optics widened in fright as he stared at the angry femme. "N-nothing!" He squeaked. "I didn't do anything!"

Streamline obviously didn't believe him because she narrowed her optics at the young mech dangerously.

Bluestreak leaned away from her, his optics flicking from her to the black and white mech he vaguely resembled. "Prowl!" He squeaked nervously. "Help!"

The plea was condemnation enough for Streamline as she turned her optics back towards Prowl. "I should've known he was yours." She grumbled accusingly. "He has the same shifty look about him."

Prowl glared at her harder, for the first time looking truly angry. "Hey, your femmeling could do a lot worse than Bluestreak!" He paused. "And what do you mean_ shifty?!_" He demanded, voice growing louder.

They dissolved again into pointless arguing, the neutrals looking on in amusement as the mech and femme shouted to be heard over the other until their clamorous voice filled the now crowded room. Still standing next to Bluestreak, Glyph stared up at the ceiling in frustration before turning back to the young mech.

"So you want to go somewhere else?" Her optics lit up as an idea suddenly slapped her upside her processor. "I could give you a tour! Show you my favorite hide outs." She added with a cheeky grin.

"Um..." Bluestreak mumbled, face hot and body language highly uncertain.

Before he could answer, Prowl and Slipstream rounded on them and shouted, "I don't think so!" making both their charges jump a foot off the floor.

Crankers chuckled. "Now ain't that sweet?" He muttered to Spectra, nudging her with an elbow. "Who says we need the AllSpark to create the next generation, huh?"

Spectra scowled at him, rubbing grease and grime off of her side . "Adorable." She grumbled before turning and pointedly ignoring the old mech.

Glyph recovered quickest from her start, unaware of the older bots' conversation as she turned a sulky glare on her caretaker. And then partly to spite Slipstream, but mostly because she wanted to touch him, she grabbed Bluestreak by the wrist and dragged him to the wall where she'd been sitting earlier. "_Fine_," she grumbled to Slipstream, "c'mon Blue, let's sit and wait for the grown-ups to finish acting like _younglings_."

Bluestreak just mumbled another uncertain, "Um..." as Glyph pulled him away.

She hopped up onto the crate she'd been sitting on earlier and patted the spot next to her when Bluestreak just stood there staring at her with a blank look on his face. "Well come on." She insisted.

With an uncertain look at Prowl, who was preoccupied arguing with Streamline again, and then Jazz, who was determined to be unhelpful and just gave him a grin and a thumbs up, Bluestreak turned and sat down on the crate next to her. It was shorter than hers, which left his head resting a couple of inches below hers, even though he was sitting ramrod straight with awkward embarrassment.

The adults' argument quickly lost its appeal for Glyph and she twisted around in her seat and leaned towards the mech next to her. "So where you from Bluestreak?" She asked in her chipper way.

Bluestreak glanced at her nervously. "Little place near Primahex." He told her, keeping it short.

Glyph grinned. "Well City," she said using an old nickname for Primahex, "noble. So are you guys like, some kind of army or exploration team or what?"

"Er..." Bluestreak's vocal processor grumbled as he shot a look towards Prowl, but there was no help there, "some kind of army I guess. We're the Autobots. Well, not all of us I guess. Prowl was escorting the neutrals through the bridge – that's most of them out there–" he jerked his thumb towards the door next to them that led outside, "they're bots that decided not to chose sides when," he blinked as if catching himself from saying something he probably shouldn't, "well when everything happened. I don't know what'll happen to all of 'em now, but-"

He stopped when he realized Glyph was giggling at him. Bluestreak frowned at her, optic ridges drawing together over his blue optics. "What's so funny?" He demanded irritably.

Glyph beamed at him, another giggle slipping out. "You." She told him. "You talk a lot."

Bluestreak drew back from her slightly, and then his shoulders fell just a little. "Oh," he muttered turning away from Glyph, "sorry."

Glyph rolled her optics to the ceiling. Were all mechs like this? She didn't know.

She bumped Bluestreak with her smaller frame, forcing him to acknowledge her. "I didn't say it was a bad thing." She clarified.

A commotion from out the door and down the hall kept the young bots from saying anything else. Glyph craned her neck to try and get a peek of who was coming, even leaning backwards to see around Bluestreak's shoulders.

She rocked back just in time to see a mech come through the open door. Her jaw dropped and she nearly fell backwards as she upset her precarious balance. The mech was _massive_, filling the door frame with his broad chest and shoulders and long, rectangular legs. He was so tall he had to stoop to get through the door, which had been made for the smaller science-class bots like her and Streamline. His armor was metallic blue and red but scuffed from recent battle, scratches showing around his arms and paint chips peeling away along the outside of his lower legs. A polished battle mask concealed half of his face so that only his bright blue optics showed above it, making him look even more solemn to young Glyph.

Feeling like she was in some kind of daze, Glyph pointed at the mech and whispered, "Is that-?" but couldn't bring herself to finish her question.

Bluestreak nodded. "Yeah, that's Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

Everyone else noticed the Prime's entrance – how could they _not_ Glyph wondered – and even Prowl gave a little start when he saw the mech, as if he was surprised by the state he was in. He quickly shook himself out of it though and joined his superior, face still set in irritated lines from arguing with Streamline and the Neutrals. Even _they_ were staring, Glyph noticed. Were they struck by his immense height and the air of solemnity that surrounded him? Or was this just how everybot reacted to this mech?

Optimus Prime joined the others at the table and slowly took in the faces of who was there. Glyph couldn't be sure since he was facing away from her, but he seemed confused by something.

"Where is Dovetail?" He asked in a deep voice that sent shivers down Glyph's arms.

For the first time since they'd started talking, the four newcomers fell silent. Crankers looked away and Spectra stared at nothing so that only Metalhawk met Prime's optics.

"Her ship was one of those that fell out of the space bridge. We haven't heard anything from her or Aves."

"That doesn't mean she's dead." Prowl interjected before Prime could say anything. "They're communications arrays could have just been knocked out when they fell out of the bridge. They could just be stranded along the path of the bridge unable to contact us."

Glyph watched in surprise as hope entered the optics of all the bots around the table. Whoever this Dovetail was, she was a miracle worker. _"I haven't seen them agree on _anything_ since they got here, 'cept their concern for her."_ Glyph thought.

Unaware of the femme behind him, Prime nodded to himself. "We'll send out search parties for her and the others that fell out of the bridge." He turned to Prowl. "How many didn't make it through?"

Prowl consulted a datapad and frowned. "The _Lost Light, _the_ Xantium_, and the _Axalon _which we've heard from. They're main engines have stalled, but Smokerunner reports that they should have them running again in a few hours. And according to Cosmos' chart of the surrounding area," he indicated the short mech with a nod, "they should reach Organic Central in roughly five orbital cycles."

Prime nodded again, but didn't get any farther as a cantankerous huff got his attention. "Don't ferget the _Clear Skies _and the _Sentinel_ are still out there. Yer ships weren't the only ones that fell outta that dang bridge."

Spectra's optics narrowed. "The _Pathfinder_ and _Mother of Invention _are lost as well."

Optimus Prime took all this in and when he had, turned to the silver mech that had come in with Bluestreak. "Jazz, organize the search parties. We'll need as much time as we can spare to find them all. If Streamline will allow us to use her communications systems," he turned to nod at the femme, "then send out a long range message. Hopefully some of them are still capable of answering us and we can pinpoint their location that much faster."

Jazz snapped out an, "On it Boss-bot," before disappearing from the room.

As he left, Glyph leaned towards Bluestreak just the slightest bit. "Is he..." she whispered uncertainly, "always like that?"

She was still staring at the Prime, so Glyph didn't see the look Bluestreak sent her. "No," he answered in a low voice that wasn't quite a whisper, "he's not always so severe looking." He shrugged. "But after awhile you get used to that too."

Glyph blinked and finally remembered to close her jaw. She couldn't imagine how anyone got used to anything about him.

"Why?" Bluestreak asked.

Glyph realized she was still staring and forced herself to look back at Bluestreak. "No reason," she mumbled, face heating in embarrassment, "he just looks...different then I imagined."

Bluestreak tilted his head as he thought about that. "Yeah, I guess I could see that."

Face still hot, Glyph glanced shyly up at the bots standing around the table. Prowl was explaining what was going on while Streamline had her arms crisscrossed over her chest as she tapped her foot at a furious pace, uncowed now that she had recovered from her initial shock at seeing Optimus Prime standing in her doorway.

The adults were talking again, about what Glyph couldn't discern or really care, but as the Prime nodded Prowl said, Glyph realized she was staring again. She couldn't help it! He was just so tall and so impressive and...

Glyph blinked, tilting her head at the leader of her race. And he was sad. So very, very sad she realized.

It was a bizarre thing to think, like finally realizing that one orbit everyone you knew and loved would die. It left Glyph feeling like her world had just turned ninety degrees in the wrong direction.

She wrapped her arms around her torso as her fuel tank did uncomfortable flip-flops, like she'd ingested old energon that had started to turn into high grade.

The small movement must have caught the Prime's attention because his blue optics flicked towards her. Glyph froze, not sure what to do when the Prime looked at you. She felt pinned in place by his solemn gaze, her spark stuttering in her chest.

Then he looked away, leaving her feeling awkward, though Glyph wasn't sure why. She felt like she'd been caught spying, but for once she hadn't done anything she wasn't supposed to.

Optimus Prime narrowed his optics in thought as he said something to Streamline, but Glyph still shrank away from the intense look, glad he was looking at her guardian instead of her. He had stern faceplates, but she noticed that there were well defined laugh lines around his optics and some even disappearing under his mask. He was definitely handsome, Glyph thought, in a reserved, warrior-leader kind of way. Nothing like Bluestreak's shy sweetness though.

Glyph felt her optic ridges lower as she thought. He was not what she expected a Prime to look like she realized, but he was everything she hadn't known they were supposed to be. He frightened her a bit, but she knew he would never do anything to hurt her.

"I understand your reservations Scientist Streamline," the Prime spoke loud enough to be heard over the arguing of the others now, "however it is important that we come to some kind of understanding. Cosmos has already generously offered his base to the Neutrals until more permanent housing can be constructed-"

Glyph blinked. Well _that_ was unexpected. Cosmos had a hard time with other bots but he still had agreed to take complete strangers into his base?

_"Bizarre." _Glyph thought. _"Cool, but bizarre."_

From the look Streamline was shooting her fellow scientist, this was the first she'd heard of it as well. She was glaring at Cosmos like he'd betrayed her somehow, white optics glowing bright with her fury.

Cosmos shrunk down where he stood next to the Prime, but didn't say anything. Optimus was still speaking anyway.

"-I will not force you to do the same," he was telling Streamline, "however any assistance you can offer us will begreatly appreciated."

Streamline opened her mouth and Glyph knew from the look in her optics she was going to tell Prime just exactly where he could stick any hope he had for help from _her_, but then she snapped her mouth closed and drew back. Glyph watched nervously as her guardian shuttered her optics and smoothed down her armor plating in a visible effort to calm herself.

Her voice was strained when she spoke, but her words were cordial enough. "What kind of assistance?"

"Information." Prime told her. "Much was lost when Cybertron closed itself off from the rest of the universe. We know next to nothing about what awaits us out there."

Streamline huffed a borderline sarcastic laugh. "Not much." She told him. "And less of it is friendly. We've had limited contact with the organic races in the near area seeing as they despise us."

Prime and the neutrals frowned at that. "But...why?" Optimus asked. "We've never even met them. What do they have against us?"

Streamline snorted and Glyph could see the snarky comment about their lack of history lessons wanting to come out. Fortunately Cosmos answered first.

"The Quintessons used to enslave Cybertronians to serve as their army." The little mech told them. "Many of the nearby organic populations were conquered by Quintesson controlled bots before Sentinel freed us. Most of them still hold a grudge."

Jazz raised an optic ridge over the top of his visor. "Most?" He repeated.

Cosmos shrugged broad shoulders. "The rest just hate cybernetic life on principle."

Prowl's frown deepened. Glyph thought that if he stayed like that for much longer his face would freeze like that. "Perfect." He grumbled. "I sure hope the Cube hasn't ended up on one of _their_ worlds."

Prime waved a hand to forestall anymore comments like that. "We will make do." He murmured before turning back to Streamline. "And are there others like yourselves out here? More bots that were cut off from Cybertron when the space bridge network collapsed? Or perhaps one of the colonies?" He asked, but there was not much hope in his voice for that last one.

Glyph blinked. Cybertron had colonies? She thought hard, her faceplates scrunching up as she did. Now that she thought about it, she might remember something about that in the ancient history datapads Streamline had given her to read.

Streamline frowned and pressed a digit to her lips as she thought. "Colonies, no, I know of no surviving colonies, but that was HQ's area of interest, not ours. However..." she trailed off as she thought, "there were others like ourselves. Outposts that fell out of contact with HQ. Let's see," Streamline mumbled as she tapped a digit at her chin. "There was Skyfire studying the ice moon in the next sector...and Botanica's team on one of the jungle planets beyond that. And – oh what was his name? Oh, yes – Sky Lynx a sector over if he managed to survive the monsoon season where his outpost was."

Optimus watched her with sorrowful optics. "Is that all who remain?" The weight of his voice made Glyph shiver. He sounded so sad, she thought as she wrapped her arms around herself. It made her feel cold.

The lines in Streamline's faceplates mirrored his. "There was more in the beginning, just after HQ stopped answering our communications," she admitted, "but the team on Galatta-5 was wiped out by organic wildlife and the military outpost on Alpha Centauri was razed by pirates. We were told nothing remained of either."

Prime absorbed this information and then sighed through his vents. "So few..." he muttered as he rubbed at the bridge of his nasal plating.

Bluestreak had latched onto a different point of interest. "Pirates?" He whispered to Glyph. The young femme glanced at him, surprised by the gleam of excitement in his optics.

Glyph nodded, biting her lip again. There was nothing exciting about pirates this far away from civilization. The lack of an HQ to back them up if they needed help only made it worse. "They like to raid the luxury cruisers that pass through the Centauri system. They've even come out as far as our sector once or twice. They're very dangerous. You have to be careful."

Bluestreak settled, thinking about that. Would there be pirates where they were going? Or worse, where the AllSpark was?

He tried to calm his rapid spark pulse as he turned back to Optimus and the femme scientist. "-not even sure if any of them are still online." Streamline was saying, referring to the science bots she listed for Optimus a moment ago. "We used to keep in contact through a miniature Teletraan-1 hub, however the mechs that maintained it – Nightbeat, Ferak, and Tornado – haven't answered our hails for a long time now. We think either they were attacked by local organics or they suffered the same fate as the bots on Alpha Centauri." She shrugged her narrow shoulders and splayed her hands as if she had little hope they were still online. "Without them, we have no way of reaching the other outposts. There is no way of knowing who is still online and who is not."

"I see," Prime said with narrowed optics before he turned to Prowl, "we should investigate their hub when we leave here. If they are alive or in stasis we might be able to help."

"And if they're not?" Spectra asked with an incredulous look on her face.

"Then we can discover why they died and perhaps repair their Teletraan hub and restore communication between the different outposts left out here. With so few of us scattered across such a large area, it's important we have a way to reach each other."

Glyph saw the spark of hope that flickered in her guardian's optics, though she suspected the others missed it entirely. Despite being a prickly workaholic, Glyph knew that Streamline worried about their isolation. If they were attacked out here there was no one they could call except Cosmos, and he was as much a fighter as they were. Having someone to call for help would be...a relief.

"And when do you plan to leave for this hub?" Metalhawk asked, suspicion engraved in every line of his faceplates, as if he thought Prime would try and wriggle out of his responsibility to them and the missing ships.

Glyph frowned at the suspicious mech. What the heck was wrong with all of them? He was their _Prime_. Didn't they trust him?

Optimus Prime thought in silence for a moment. "An orn." He finally announced. "That should be long enough to receive word from any ships that survived the space bridge as well as transport everyone on Effie to Organic Central. We do not know how far the Decepticons are behind us. Anything longer and we might risk losing our fragile lead on them."

Metalhawk nodded thoughtfully. "That's not much time..." he murmured slowly, but did not complain outright.

Optimus nodded. "Then we'd better get started."


	48. Chapter 48: Trypticon Rises

Bless all of your little heads we've reached _401 reviews!_ Wooyeah Thank you guys so much! I never thought I'd get even _near_ that many so thank you thank you _Thank you!_

Thank you specifically to Autobot-Bre-Lightblast, Bee4ever, L.M.L., and Jimmy 144 for reviewing. And special mention goes to IshBabe1497 for being the 400th reviewer! Woo hoo! Go Ishbabe! I mean, there's no prize or anything, but it's still cool. So yay! n_n;

And now for the chapter! Still no news on the missing Autobots, or even our favorite pair of organics (who I now realize have not been mentioned recently...) but! We have Decepticons! So I think you'll all be okay with waiting for the others a little while yet...

Enjoy!

...

The Long Road Home

48 – Trypticon Rises – 48

While the Autobots searched for their lost ships from Effie and Organic Central, the Decepticons were having problems of their own; and first and foremost on every mech's processor was where the frack was Megatron?

Come to think of it, where the frack were they?

Starscream had answer to neither question. In fact, he would have loved just leaving the first unanswered altogether, but _other _mechs had different ideas on the matter.

"Slag Soundwave," the air commander muttered to himself as he widened his scanning perimeters to incorporate the next section of the asteroid field they'd somehow gotten mired in. "No one could have survived going through that bridge without protective gear. The energies have obviously ripped our former lord to atoms." He huffed in frustration. "Didn't even leave us a body to find."

He sounded a bit too pleased with that last statement, but there was no one around to berate him for it. In fact, Starscream thought, mood lifting, with Megatron rendered to his component parts there would be no one around to berate him period. For anything ever again.

He resisted the urge to whoop and holler his victory – undoubtedly Soundwave was monitoring him closely in case he found sign of the deceased and decided to keep it to himself – but it was a difficult thing. After vorns of abuse, of listening to that megalomaniac go on and _on_ about his vision for a new and better Cybertron and never once delivering on those promises, Starscream was finally free from that Pit-spawned gladiator. Now there was no one left to hold him back from his rightful destiny as leader of the Decepticons! He was finally, and completely, _free_.

A wicked grin curled up the air commander's faceplates. _"Free."_ He thought again, relishing the perfect moment. It had been so long in coming.

And he did not wish to waste a nano-klik of his new found freedom looking for his Primus-forsaken predecessor. Unfortunately, the rest of the Decepticons lacked Starscream's vision. They just couldn't see that _he _was what they needed. That _he, _not Megatron, would be the one to lead them to victory over the Autobots.

Starscream snorted as he floated farther into the asteroid field, mindful of the slowly spinning chucks of rock and ice as his boosters propelled him forward. _"Idiots." _He grumbled to himself. _"Wouldn't know vision if it came and blasted them through the spark with a fusion cannon."_

He altered his course, curving slightly so that he would come around and head back to the _Nemesis _in short order. He was done searching for a corpse.

He could see the Decepticon warship now in his periphery vision, a black and violet arrowhead in an otherwise formless void. It hung, dead in space, listing to one side without any guidance systems to stabilize it. Violet streaks of energy still sparked around the outside of the hull, arcing out from the offline engines and spearing through different downed systems before bleeding away into nothingness.

"Tch," Starscream huffed with a glare at the violet energy, "blasted good it did us in the end." He grumbled. "'Dark energon will win us the war'." He gave a passing imitation of Megatron's deeper voice. "Ha! Never even occurred to him that it might strand us out in the middle of nowhere a million light years from a repair shop."

It was true. When the space bridge had collapsed around them from the overload of dark energon, the resulting explosion had rocketed the _Nemesis_ back into real space hundred, perhaps even millions, of lightyears away from Cybertron. And with the ship barely operating at all – leaving them unable to move or radio Cybertron for help – they were effectively stuck out here.

_"We don't even know which way the Autobots _went_." _Starscream thought bitterly. _"Tch. Megatron. Always leaving me to clean up his mess."_

Starscream continued his grumbling as he idly searched the rocks he passed with his sensor array. He wasn't trying very hard, which probably explained why it took him a cycle to realize that some of the violet sparks of light weren't coming from the _Nemesis_.

A jagged strike of violet energy lashed out at him, nearly hitting his wing when he flew too close. The jet gave a startled shriek and angled away from the energy strike, not sure where it had come from. He stared in its general direction, but all he saw was a large asteroid spinning lazily in space, dark sparks of energy crawling over its metal-laced surface.

No, Starscream realized, they were coming around it. Whatever hunk of dark energon laced debris had landed out this far, it was on the other side of the drifting rock.

Curious, the Seeker transformed and angled his boosters so that their force took him around the asteroid. He expected to see a piece of that decrepit old space bridge at the energy's source, or perhaps even a piece of the _Nemesis _had broken off in the tumult.

He did _not_ expect to find the burnt and blackened form of Megatron floating dead in space.

Starscream gasped and instinctively jerked backwards at the unexpected sight of his former leader. The violet lightning he'd seen lancing around the meteor was bleeding out of the jagged holes in his armor, energon and lubricant drifting away in fluid globules out of his wounds. With the way panic flooded Starscream's processor, it took him a moment to realize that the energy discharges were not a sign of life. Ragged openings in Megatron's chest showed his spark chamber was dark; lifeless.

The air commander hovered their a long cycle, uncertain what he should do. Here it was, definitive proof that Megatron was no more, that _he _was now in charge. And yet he didn't want to get too close, as if he feared that the warlord would suddenly come alive and strike him for even _thinking_ he could take his place.

Starscream shook himself as another flicker of violet energy, weaker than before, lanced out through the holes in Megatron's frame. "Ridiculous." He muttered to himself. "Look at him. Nobody could survive that. Not even Megatron."

He drifted closer, long ingrained fears making him hesitate only a nano-klik. His faceplates curled in disgust as he made a closer inspection of Megatron's body. His unprotected passage through the space bridge had left its mark on the mighty warlord. His armor was burnt and blackened by the peculiar energies, the thick metal warped in waves like it had half melted and molded to the bridge's unseen currents. Faint lines of electric energy crawled around the Decepticons limbs, showing up brightly in Starscream's optic sensors against the black surroundings.

"So much for the mighty Megatron," the air commander muttered, voice full of disdain. When he'd first joined the Decepticon cause he had been as impressed by the gladiator as much as everyone else. He'd even looked up to him, in a way. The strength it had taken the miner to climb as high as he had in the Pit Fighting circuit was astounding, even if he _was_ only a low caste nobody.

But in time Starscream had seen past all the hype and glamour. Megatron was a bot, just like anyone else. He was fierce to be sure, ruthless and terrifying on the battlefield and in no way to be taken lightly, but he bled energon just like the rest of them. He would no more survive a well placed vibro-blade in the back than the Autobots' revered Optimus Prime.

Starscream narrowed his optics at the drifting Decepticon, his so-called leader, and felt his lips curl into a sneer. His only regret was that _he_ hadn't been the one to extinguish his superior's spark.

"I suppose I should thank Prime for finishing you off for me." Starscream muttered at the former warlord, nudging him with a claw to reassure himself he was, in fact, deceased.

The slight force sent Megatron's body spinning slightly, rolling him towards the Seeker. As the angle changed, Starscream saw that something was glimmering underneath his buckled armor, high in his chest. The Seeker felt his spark jump into his throat as he thought, for a nano-klik, that a piece of Megatron's spark had survived after all.

But no. The glimmering thing was set too high in his chest to be his spark, right on top of his main fuel lines instead of his spark chamber. Whatever it was must have cut off the circulation to his processor.

"Huh," Starscream mumbled to himself as he bent to get a closer look. "It's a miniature containment field. How interesting. The question is," he angled his head to get a better look, "what is it containing?"

He drifted closer, optics narrowing as he examined the field with a scientific interest he hadn't indulged in stellar cycles. The containment field itself was normal enough – a see- through whitish orb that, once sealed, had enough energy and stability to last indefinitely – but something seethed at its heart. Something so dark a purple it was almost black.

"Huh," Starscream hummed again as he drew back, "so that's what finally did you in. Fascinating. That Autobot engineer is cleverer than I gave him credit for, but then," the Seeker grinned smugly down at Megatron's lifeless frame, "I always knew that dark energon would destroy you in the end."

Megatron just stared at him with burnt out optics, saying nothing.

Starscream allowed himself a moment of pride. "Well oh _mighty_ Megatron," he crowed as he grabbed Megatron by what was left of his shoulder guard and began to haul him to the _Nemesis _in disgrace, "let's go share the good news with the rest of them, shall we?"

...

Starscream was already preparing his acceptance speech by the time he drew close to the _Nemesis_. "'-and even though Lord Megatron failed to rid us of the Autobots-' wait wait no. They'll never go for that, especially Soundwave." He mumbled to himself, sparing a glance over his shoulder at Megatron's body floating behind him. "Even though every word is true." He grumbled.

But still, he couldn't bring himself to despise Megatron even more than he already did, not now that he'd done Starscream the great service of dying and leaving him in charge.

"Now let's see, where was I?" The Seeker murmured thoughtfully as he began to descend to the open cargo bay doors. "Oh yes! 'And even though Lord Megatron fell before fulfilling his vision of a Cybertron reborn, we will not rest until it has been accomplished! We will remake Cybertron-" a chuckle broke through his speech as he pressed a falsely modest hand to his chest, "in my _own_ image of course."

His victorious cackle turned into a startled scream that went unheard in the vacuum as a bright violet bolt of dark energy speared through the air right in front of him, nearly striking Starscream dead on.

The Seeker backpedaled quickly, knocking into Megatron's body behind him as he watched the energy bolt drift harmlessly away into space.

Out of danger, Starscream glared up at the looming shape of the _Nemesis_ before him. "Stupid ship!" He growled as if the thing could hear him. "If you're going to electrocute somebot, then electrocute him!" He shook Megatron's frame by the collar. "It's not like he'll _mind _anymore." He grumbled.

The new Decepticon commander activated his rocket boosters again, propelling himself quickly towards the warship's cargo bay. More violet energy lanced off the hull as he grew closer, some striking too close for comfort, but none found their mark before he stepped into the safety of the ship.

"Hmph," he snorted with a glare over his shoulder as another lightning strike lanced past the entrance to the ship. But his anger passed quickly as he realized there was already a crowd waiting for him.

Starscream straightened up, obviously trying not to preen in front of _his _Decepticons, but there was still a strut to his walk as he came forward, dragging Megatron's heavy frame behind him across the floor.

He dropped it with a clang as the Vehicons came forward to meet him, whispering amongst themselves at the sight of their dead lord.

Starscream straightened to his full height. "My fellow Decepticons-" he started.

That was as far as he got. A lightning strike the color of dark energon suddenly boomed through the hold, blowing every mech standing clear across the large room. Starscream's vision exploded in a burst of violet light that blinded his optic sensors, leaving static in his vision for long cycles.

He rebooted his optics, but some of the static remained. At first he wasn't sure what had happened. He was twenty feet away from where he'd been standing, his processor told him, but considering he'd been the one standing closest to the explosion he wondered how he was still functioning at all.

Eventually he realized one of the Vehicons was shouting something. It took another cycle for him to understand it over the ringing in his audios.

"Lord Megatron!" He was shouting. "Look what it did to Lord Megatron!"

Starscream spun his head in the direction he'd left Megatron. Had the energy strike slagged what was left of his frame?

He found Megatron's body lying right where he'd left it. It wasn't slagged, at least not any more than it had been already, however...

"_NO!_"Starscream heard himself shout. "No it _can't_ be!"

But it was. A dark, unholy purple glow was pulsating in the Decepticon's chest. Starscream could see it through the holes in his armor. It was beating, erratically at first, but already it was leveling out into a regular rhythm that echoed the beat of every living Cybertronian.

Somehow, someway, the dark energon energy from the ship had revitalized Megatron's spark.

He was _alive_.

_"Slag it all to the fracking Pit!" _Starscream shrieked in his head. _"He was dead! Why the frack can't he just stay that way?!"_

"Sta-_kzt_-ar_scream_!" Megatron's rough but very familiar voice hissed, breaking in fits and starts as static mangled his words.

For one insane moment as his spark beat frantically in his audios, Starscream contemplated running over and finishing off the Decepticon lord once and for all. But he quickly dismissed the idea as suicide. The hold was filled with Vehicons that had just seen their mighty leader come _back from the dead_.

Starscream managed not to scream his frustration as Megatron came back to life right before his optic sensors. He jerked to his feet and stumbled towards his leader. He was the only one in the room who dared.

He stopped over Megatron's prone frame. His new spark – colored black and purple instead of the normal white – was hardly weak, but he was still heavily damaged from his trip through the space bridge. If they got him medical attention in the next cycle he would live. If they didn't...

Starscream glared down at Megatron, wanting so bad to just leave him to bleed out on the deck. He waited for the gray mech to say something – order him to send for a med team or berate him for not having the foresight to have one already standing by – but Megatron was silent as he glared back at his second. Starscream noted with interest that Megatron's optics were flickering erratically as their original red color began to overtake the violet left behind by the dark energon.

Starscream eventually found his words. "What?" He hissed where the rattled Vehicons couldn't hear him. "Has the great Megatron resorted to begging for his life?" He spat in equal parts anger and fear. Was there nothing that could kill him? Why couldn't the mech just stay dead?!

Megatron's scowl deepened and he bared his sharp denta at him, in anger or pain Starscream wasn't quite sure. "Megat-_kzzt- _tron begs _– hisssha –_ for _nothing_ Starscream!" He growled through his broken vocorder.

Starscream snorted derisively, his glare deepening. "Well you're not exactly in a position to do much else _mighty_ Megatron." He sneered. "What's to stop me from just leaving you here to rust?"

His answer was a powerful reminder for the Seeker why he had obeyed the gladiator for the past age and a half, afraid of the consequences if he didn't; Megatron grinned.

"Ask yourself _Starscream_," he hissed, faceplates twisted in unholy amusement as his words degraded into untranslatable static, "are you _–kzzt- _really going to let an Auto_-skrssh_-Autobot do a _–hshzzt_- _Decepticon's_ job?"

No one else heard the original Decepticon's words, but they all saw the indecision on Starscream's face as his optics flicked from Megatron's dying body to the bridge door on the far side of the hold.

The Vehicons waited silently, not sure what else to do.

Starscream whirled on them so suddenly that one of them tripped over his own feet in an effort to put some space between them. The Seeker was furious as he flung a clawed digit at the nearest Decepticon, but none of them were sure if he was furious with them or the next words out of his own mouth.

"Get him to the medbay _now!_"

...

Knock Out had to admit; there was something to be said for being in the right place at the right time.

He wasn't even have supposed to be on the _Nemesis _when Megatron's abrupt order came through. But urgent business had pulled Shockwave away before he could finish calibrating the newly installed navigation systems (the original had rusted away in that dry abyss, taking the _Nemesis'_ maps and location memory with it) and he'd stuck Knock Out with the mundane task.

He'd cursed his fate at the time, but now Knock Out gave a self-satisfied vent of air as he swung his stabilizing servos up onto his new desk.

"Let it never be said that fate doesn't have a sense of humor." He murmured as he stuck his hands behind his head and admired his new, spacious office. "It only took Shockwave getting grounded and us getting exploded through a temperamental space bridge, but I _finally _got a promotion."

The bright red mech vented a comfortable sigh, pleased with how things had turned out so well, for him at least. "And Breakdown thought we were being punished for that little incident in the rec room the other orn." He laughed.

The medic's preening was cut short as the door to this office was suddenly slammed open. "Knock Out!" One of the Vehicon rabble shouted – Knock Out had yet to learn any of their designations or even differentiate one from the other really; they all looked like drones to him with their uniform protective optic visors and battle masks – his voice abnormally loud in the empty office space.

Knock Out glared at the intrusion. "What have I told you about barging in?!" He demanded, swinging his feet off the desk and placing his hands flat on its surface, rising with the full force of his indignity. "I'm in charge now and you will listen to me! Now get out there and use that intercom system like I told you!"

"But Knock Out-" the Vehicon tried interrupting again.

"OUT!"

Knock Out flung a long digit at the door and, not sure what else to do, the Vehicon very nearly threw himself backwards out the door. Knock Out glared at him through the open door as the mech scrabbled for the paging system set into the wall near the main entrance.

A beep came accordingly from the intercom set in Knock Out's new desk and after a moment of important dawdling (It wouldn't do to let them think he jumped at every communiqué now would it?) he answered the line.

"Yes?" He responded leisurely.

The Vehicon's voice was fuzzy and breathless, as if his fans had yet to catch up to his exertions. "L-lord Megatron," he panted, "Lord Megatron!"

"Spit it out!" Knock Out snapped. He had to make an effort to keep the grin off his face. It was fun messing with your underlings. He could see why mechs like Starscream and Megatron kept so many around.

The Vehicon hesitated just long enough to collect himself. "Lord Megatron was gravely wounded going through the space bridge!" He finally snapped out. "He needs your immediate attention and Starscream reports-"

The doors next to the Vehicon suddenly sprang open as bots ran in, Decepticons carrying in the body of their leader. His condition was apparent even from Knock Out's office window.

There was a moment of dead silence on the intercom as Megatron was carried farther into the med bay and directed onto a circuit slab.

"Erm," the Vehicon eventually remembered their conversation, "Knock Out?"

His only answer was the loud crash and scramble of the medic trying to get out quicker than his feet were capable of. Clank the Vehicon – the same Clank that had observed Megatron's reaction to Omega Supreme's appearance at Tyger Pax more up close and personal than he would have liked – heard the tinny sounds of numerous objects falling to the floor echoed by sharp swears from Knock Out as he propelled himself out of his office.

Clank turned off the line just as the red medic managed to disentangle himself from his office and bolted into the main medical bay. And then Clank snapped to nervous attention as Starscream, wings stiff with displeasure and faceplates set in a scowl, stalked in through the main doors.

The Seeker found Knock Out's cherry red paintjob in the dull room immediately. "Well if it isn't our new chief medical officer." His words were smooth with the weight of his sarcasm. "My, doesn't my spark just soar in relief at seeing you. _Everything_ will be fine now that Lord Megatron is in _your _care."

Knock Out shot the jet a sharp glare, but otherwise didn't respond as he swept scanners over Megatron's torn and dented frame. "You like how everything was going so well in your short tenure as leader of the Decepticons?" He shot back as his scanners completed their run through. Knock Out frowned at their results before turning and shouting at the younger medics running towards him.

"Conduit! Hook! Get him hooked into that slab and start a lubricant drip. You!" He threw a sharp look at Clank, who started at the attention. "Get me syringe of - for the IV and-"

The deck plating started quaking beneath their feet, cutting off any communication in the medbay. As every mech watched, each wondering what was going on now, violet energy started crawling out of the very walls of the ship. It crawled across the medical equipment in staticky lines, winding its way to the circuit slab Megatron had just been hooked in to, before funneling into the unconscious mech through the bay's machinery.

All around them the quaking grew worse. The groan of metal strained to near breaking point reverberated around and through them, making mech's clap their hands to their audios, but it didn't help.

Knock Out had to shield his optics as the glow of violet energy grew brighter around and now _in _Megatron's chest cavity as his spark grew stronger with the added input. Not sure what was going on, but confident it couldn't be good for Megatron in the state he was in, Knock Out started shouting at Hook, "Disconnect him! Disconnect him _now!_"

"But sir!" Conduit tried to argue even as Hook scrambled to obey Knock Out. "Without the circuit slab we won't be able to accurately judge his condition!"

Knock Out grabbed the younger mech by the collar and yanked him down to his shorter height. "You think I need a circuit slab to tell me what's going on? Now disconnect him before every one of his circuits overload! Lord Megatron's survival is all that matters!"

Conduit stopped arguing.

Hook was still prying at the line that connected Lord Megatron to the circuit slab, his digits slipping on the line that hooked into the back of the mech's neck. By the time he finally pulled it free, the walls were shaking so much that cracks had started to spread from floor to ceiling.

The quaking started to subside as soon as the connection between Megatron and the ship was disengaged, but everyone stood perfectly still until the unnatural movement finally stopped altogether.

"What," Conduit muttered when no one else dared to even cycle air, "was that?"

"_That_," Starscream snapped from where he still stood by the door, "was an ancient, dilapidated excuse for a ship writhing in its _death throes_." He spat. Clank noticed that even the Seeker looked shaken by the ship's shaking.

Knock Out snorted as he crossed the room and began to sterilize his servos and arms. "What we need is a ship that _isn't_ about to fall into a million pieces with us still _in it._" He grumbled.

"No, what we _need_ is a capable mechasurgeon," Starscream put in before sizing Knock Out up with narrowed optics, "but we'll have to settle for you until we can get word back to Cybertron."

Knock Out met the commander's gaze with his own unamused optics. "Your confidence in my skills is overwhelming." He muttered before turning back to the unconscious Decepticon. "Now get out. I need to focus."

He brushed past the Seeker, bumping him slightly with a polished shoulder guard. Knock Out grimaced when he saw that his two assistants – their servos buried in Megatron's chest as they clipped off broken lines and cleared away oil where it had pooled in crevices – were already covered in energon and discolored frame lubricant. He'd definitely need a shine and an oil bath when he was done here...

Starscream still hadn't moved by the time Knock Out reached the table. "I said out Starscream. Conduit, get out of my way!"

Starscream glared at the red medic as he fairly shoved the younger mech to the side and instructed him to get a packet of stored medical-grade energon for a transfusion. The first of many from the looks of things. The flier thought about staying there to watch the team of medics crack Megatron open like an empty shell, but decided against it. Staying to watch them _restore_ the gladiator just felt wrong.

With a disdainful huff, the Seeker turned on one heel and stalked out of the medbay. "Comm. me when you're finished with him!" He shouted over his shoulder at the medic.

Knock Out just snorted as he began prying Megatron's internals back into their proper places. "Whatever." He grumbled.

And then threw himself into his work.

...

In the deepest abyss of unconsciousness, awareness was beginning to slip in. It was a strange feeling, one foreign and bizarre to him, as if he had never felt it before. Vaguely he could register sound – arranged in patterns and cadences both familiar and strange to him – and it took him some time to realize that the sounds were words. That someone was speaking to him.

_"Lord Megatron's survival is all that matters!"_

At first he did not understand. He knew what the words were meant to convey, but they did not mean anything to him. But still, their importance echoed to his core. These words signified something he held very dear in his spark; survival.

His survival.

He tried to repeat the words, the strange vibrations of his attempts making his frame shudder and strain in ways that hurt. He rested a moment and then tried again, unable to stop himself.

"Lawd Mega-trronserr-veye-vaal is awl thaat mah-tersss."

The words hurt, like someone was reaching sharp digits into his body and pricking at his vocal processor to force the sound from him, but his spark pulsed when he succeeded despite the pain. He said them again, something in him recognizing...something in those words.

"L-lawrd Mega-trronns serr-veye-vaal is all thaat matt-errsss."

Again that pulse of familiarity in his spark; that feeling that he was now connected to something of great importance. And, even more compelling, that it was his life's work to protect that something important. It was what he had been made to do.

"Lorrd Mega-trons serr-vivaal is all that matt-ers." He repeated.

He reached for the familiar thing, his spark finding and recognizing its presence. He touched it, just for a nano-klik, and then drew back as he touched a power unlike any he had every felt. One strong and immense, even more so than himself, but contained in a smaller frame. And colored by the same darkness that had given him life.

"Lord Mega-trons sur-vival is all that matt-ers." The words came easier now, more like the original. And each time he spoke them they added power to his conscious, dragging him out of the depths of non-existence and into the light of the living day.

He reached out again to the familiar presence – the one that was greater than himself, but unprotected in its moment of weakness. He touched it again, this time prepared for the power he would find, and through his connection, lent the familiar spark his strength.

Through their connection, he felt the familiar spark grow stronger. It was not quite like him, he realized. Aside from the familiar, it was alone, a single entity that had never known anything else. Not like him. He had dim memories, ghosts of lives past, of a time before now. Of living under a warm sun on a desolate, beautifully ravaged planet that had once meant something to all of his past lives.

No longer. The vague images he could still recall meant nothing to him. All he had known was the black, the void, and that was all he would ever know. Planets and life under warm suns were not meant for the likes of him.

But the planet called up something in the familiar spark. It meant something to him, so as his protector it must mean something to himself as well.

He filed it away in the safety of his memory banks before turning back to the task at hand of watching for anything that might wish to harm this familiar spark while feeding it his energy at the same time, strengthening their connection as he did.

"Lord Megatron's survival is all that matters." He repeated.

He believed in nothing else.

...

Megatrorn felt it too; something reaching out to his unconscious spark, of connecting, of the thing giving him energy without reservation. At first he was repulsed by the contact. His spark was his own! And he would not weaken his own life to give strength to another like those bots that bonded themselves to others.

The thing straining to reach him recoiled at Megatron's disgust. It backed away, not like a bot withdrawing his hand from another, but like a hell-hound pressing its belly to the ground in submission to its master.

Megatron paused at that. He observed the thing, contemplating its actions and qualifying what he felt of it through the connection. There wasn't much to see, he realized, not because it was holding back from him, but because it was so new. It had only just grasped self awareness! Life was new to it, and yet it had distant memories of Cybertron...

Megatron frowned, the gesture making his faceplates twitch as Knock Out connected torn conduits and replaced stripped gears. It was only just now self aware, and yet it somehow had memories of Cybertron? How could that be?

The answer struck Megatron with surprising clarity. Yes, that made sense. It bordered on the impossible, but it made sense. No wonder the thing saw him as its master.

Well aware of what he was doing, Megatron wiped away his earlier revulsion towards the new life, knowing the other being would see his actions as proof Megatron was not angry with him.

The other presence reached tentatively towards Megatron, offering up its own nearly unlimited supply of energy to him without hesitation.

Megatron accepted the energy, but sent the thing a questioning thought. Why did he do this?

The other presence hesitated; not because he didn't have an answer, Megatron thought, but because communication was so new to him.

"Lord Megatron's survival is all that matters." He finally answered.

If he were awake, Megatron would have laughed for all he was worth.

_"Oh Starscream's just going to _love_ this."_ He thought with a sharp edged grin as the new life's energy and Knock Out's care brought him closer and closer back to consciousness.

...

Starscream was sulking on the bridge later that orbital cycle. He sat in the command chair, figuring he might as well enjoy the seat of power while he still could. He had just heard the news from Knock Out. He would live. Primus curse him into oblivion, Megatron would live. But then he'd already figured that he would.

The Seeker narrowed his optics at the viewing window before him. The _Nemesis'_ main systems were still offline, including its main power grid, so it was difficult to distinguish the dark of the ship from the dark of the void that surrounded them.

Starscream stared at it anyway. It didn't matter what he was actually staring at it; the future was all blackness to him.

The near-silent swish of the bridge elevator door opening and closing behind him registered to Starscream's processor, but he didn't care to see who it was that had come to bother him now. Probably it was just Soundwave again, come to rub his faceplates in the fact that Megatron was still in charge.

"Soundwave if you so much as say one more 'I told you so' I will rip off that precious mask of yours and feed it to your mini-cons!" Starscream snarled.

A dark, familiar chuckle had his optics widening to twice their normal size. Starscream bolted upright and spun around, already knowing what he'd see but wishing it wasn't true.

Megatron stood in front of the closed elevator, Knock Out just behind his shoulder as he watched his Lord carefully.

Starscream could see why. Megatron was just as dented and damaged as he'd been when Starscream had brought him to the ship. The tears in his armor had been welded together or stapled to long strips of metal that would keep them from opening up further until they had a chance to heal on their own. His left arm was bolted to his side and chest, useless with that containment field still glimmering in his shoulder. Knock Out would have to rewire his entire arm since he couldn't remove the field with the way it bisected his main fuel line. Honestly it was a miracle the mech was awake, much less walking.

But his spark was still pulsing, and Megatron was still grinning.

"Starscream," Megatron said in an oily, 'I know something you don't and you're not going to like it' tone that had Starscream's flaps rising on end, "you're sitting in my chair."

It was not what Starscream had expected and he hesitated a moment too long.

Megatron's optics started to narrow. "Starscream..." he came close to growling.

The Seeker hunched without realizing it. "Of-of course Lord Megatron. My mistake." The words were acid in his vocorder. "I was just, just keeping it warm for you."

Megatron snorted. "Even in death there is no rule but _mine_ Starscream. You'd be wise to remember that. Now get _out_."

Starscream jumped out of the command chair, quickly stepped aside and bowed to the leader of the Decepticons. He could feel Megatron scowling down at him, like a physical heat on his neck, but Megatron didn't say anything as he slowly made his way to the command chair and stiffly sat on the edge of the chair.

He stretched his legs out before him, unable to bend them properly, but no one seemed to notice. Starscream waited for the inevitable – Megatron never _could _resist rubbing it in when he knew something his second didn't – but the former gladiator remained silent, staring out at the galaxy spread out before him through the viewscreen much as Starscream had done before him.

Finally Starscream couldn't stand it any longer. "I did not expect to see you so soon, Lord Megatron." He ventured to speak. "You're recovery was..." he looked away and tried very hard not to sound too frustrated, "remarkably swift."

Megatron shifted in the command chair but did not lean back against its support despite his injuries. "Yes," he acknowledged, "I had some remarkable assistance." He commented.

Knock Out drew himself up taller, preening in spite of the fact he was still covered in arterial energon spatter. "Thank you, Lord Megatron. You are most gracious."

Megatron slid a sideways glance at the vain mech that was now his chief medical officer. "I did not mean you." He rumbled.

Starscream grinned vindictively as Knock Out wilted. But as nice as it was seeing the medic brought down to his proper place, that didn't explain Megatron's statement.

Megatron didn't appear to want to enlighten his subordinates. He was surveying the bridge with cool, calculating optics, taking note of who was where and what they were doing. Finally he settled back, every inch of his frame affirming he had complete control over everything around him. "Why aren't you chasing down the Autobots?" He asked.

Starscream and Knock Out shared a surprised look. Surely the answer was obvious, even to Megatron who had never been on a ship in his life. Most of the Decepticons hadn't.

"My Lord," Knock Out spoke slowly, not sure if the question was rhetorical or if his lord was suffering some mental distress from his brief experience being dead, "the power grid is down. It will take some time to repair. We were lucky there was enough emergency power to run the medbay to repair _you_."

Megatron grinned and again Starscream felt there was something he wasn't sharing with them. "Hardly luck, Knock Out. The ship knew I needed power in the medbay, so it gave you what you needed."

Starscream resisted the urge to sigh. Great. Megatron's time as a corpse had left him processor damaged. Wonderful.

Knock out looked more concerned than Starscream. "Ah..." he stuttered, "Lord Megatron, I don't think-"

Megatron cut him off with a wave of his hand. Starscream watched, arms crossed skeptically over his chest as Megatron stood, his joints creaking with the stress.

He stood before the command chair, optics roving the long room as he watched each bots' reaction. "_Nemesis_, bring the power grid back online." He commanded in a calm voice.

Starscream felt his mouth drop open, fully intending to demand just who Megatron thought he was talking to, but another part of his processor held him back to see if it worked.

The bridge remained dark, the only light coming from the emergency running lights set into the floor and the distant pinpricks of the stars outside the viewport.

Knock Out took a half step forward. "Lord Megatron, I think it's time to return to the medbay-" he started, hoping the larger mech didn't take offense at his words.

He stopped as, with a thrum of electricity, the bridge's lights came on all at once.

Starscream's hand flew to cover his optics and he held back an automatic swear. They'd been standing in darkness for so long that the bridge lights threatened to blind him. "What is this?!" He demanded, unable to make any kind of sense in this. The _Nemesis _wasn't programmed for voice commands. It's main computer had been too badly damaged from its time out in the Wastes. "Megatron, what is going on?!"

Megatron didn't look at Starscream as the jet blinked his optic shutters rapidly against the light. He was still staring round at the bridge in general, but no longer at the mechs at their stations. "Explain yourself." Megatron commanded calmly.

Starscream opened his mouth to shout at Megatron that he'd finally gone and lost whatever rational sense he'd had to begin with, but a deep voice echoing from every speaker in the bridge stopped him.

"You are...like me. But greater. I answer...to you."

Every mech froze at the chopped up words. Knock Out stepped back, wide optics darting around him as if he expected the speaker to rise up out of the deck plating and attack him. "Who said that?!"

Again that pause as if the speaker had to think about what words to say. "I did."

Megatron's optics narrowed thoughtfully. "And who are you?" He asked, no trace of fear in his voice or features.

"I," the voice said slowly, "am Trypticon."

A moment of silence met his words.

"So..." Knock Out said slowly as he stared at one of the security cameras mounted in the ceiling, "we're not on the _Nemesis_, we're on the _Trypticon_?" He tried to understand.

"No." Boomed Trypticon, but did not elaborate further.

"The ship is still the _Nemesis_." Megatron told his medic. "However when the space bridge collapsed with it still inside, the explosion supercharged the five sparks Shockwave used to power the ship. They merged with the dark energon and each other, becoming one new creation." He gestured at the bridge with his one working arm. "And the Transformer Trypticon was born."

Knock Out's optics fuzzed at the edges and his head whipped from side to side as he tried to watch everywhere at once. "You mean this is his _alt-mode?!"_ He demanded loudly.

Neither Megatron nor Starscream paid him any attention. Starscream's optics simply narrowed as he took in Megatron's words, his mind understanding the process better than the medic. "It's a form of combination." He murmured. "Quite impressive I might add."

Knock Out looked about ready to fall to his component parts and stay that way just so he could avoid his fellow officers. "But...with _sparks?!"_ He couldn't even begin to fathom it. "Sparks aren't meant to _merge_. That's-that's-" he couldn't even think of the right words to describe how _wrong_ that was. "That's just _sick_."

The look Megatron slid him was nothing less than chilling. "It was your superior's idea Knock Out," he reminded him, "I was under the impression it wasn't even pushing the limits of his imagination. If you don't know what Shockwave is capable of after working with him for so long, then you are a moron."

Knock Out smarted at the insult, but was smart enough not to say anything.

"So tell me Trypticon," Starscream spoke up, hands clasped behind his back as he leisurely paced the deck as if he was bored, "obviously you could have brought the _Nemesis'_ power online any time you wished so why didn't you? Why just the medbay?"

Trypticon's answer, when he finally made it, made Starscream's mood sour even more. "Lord Megatron's survival is all that matters."

Starscream's face turned flat. "Your loyalty is downright charming." He spat.

Megatron laughed to himself, his shoulders shaking with the effort. Just to irk the Seeker, Megatron asked, "And why is that Trypticon?"

"Because I serve Lord Megatron."

Starscream's expression grew even darker and a faint growl ground out of his vocorder as his hands balled into fists at his sides.

"I think my lieutenant disapproves of your loyalty Trypticon."

Trypticon was silent a long moment, his computers on either side of the room whirring in obvious confusion. "Why?" He finally asked.

Megatron chuckled and skewered Starscream with a look. "He doesn't like sharing the spotlight."

Starscream glared at Megatron, wishing not for the first time and hardly the last that he had just _stayed_ dead.

"Fine," Starscream ground out, "but why him? Why _only_ him?" He tried not to sound bitter. He failed.

Megatron tapped at the patched armor above his new, oddly-colored spark. "Because of dark energon." He said. "Trypticon was saturated with it during his creation, and when you brought me onboard, Starscream, the dark energon in the ship connected to the dark energon in me, giving my body life and connecting our new friend here," he gestured at the ceiling to mean all of Trypticon, "to me."

Starscream scowled at his leader. "And all of Decepticon-kind rejoiced." He grumbled.

Megatron laughed under his breath. "Indeed Starscream."

Starscream bridled at the implied insult that he wasn't a real Decepticon, but before he could lash out Megatron stepped forward, optics on the ceiling cameras. "Trypticon," he spoke loud enough for the entire bridge to hear, "we are searching for something very important. Have you ever heard of the AllSpark?"

Trypticon thought, small lights on his computer terminals blinking rapidly. "No. Why does Lord Megatron search for it?"

Megatron grinned, pleased he had the chance to explain. "Except for the rare exception such as yourself, the AllSpark is what gives us life. It was lost to us because of our enemy, the insidious Autobots. If we do not find it again, our planet will die. But by a stroke of luck," he smirked, "it too has been touched by dark energon, like us. You sensed me because of it Trypticon, so my question is," his optics flicked up and a smirk sprawled across his features, "can you sense the Cube as well?"

Trypticon was silent for a long time. Around them, the rising hum of machinery told the Decepticons that Trypticon was using his own computers and systems to locate anything else with a dark energon signature. Then, finally-

"Yes."

The smile that stretched across Megatron's faceplates sent shivers down Knock Out's spinal strut. His optics, which had yet to return fully to their original ruby red color, burned red-violet at the bottom with unholy purple fire. Logically, Knock Out knew that with the dark energon now isolated in Megatron's body by the containment field it could no longer influence his mental state. However for reasons the doctor had yet to understand, Megatron could still pull on the power of the tainted energon. It disconcerted the young medic to no end.

And now he was mentally connected to a two and half mile long warship with enough destructive power that he could raze a large city with just an idle thought. All because of dark energon.

_"Joy."_ Knock Out thought as Megatron limped across the room back towards the command chair. _"If he really does lose his mind we're all scrapped."_

It was a good thing Megatron was not linked to _his _mind, Knock Out thought as his lord and master turned around. His pride was very nearly palpable.

"Very well then Trypticon." Megatron murmured as he raked his violet-red optics over the stars that showed before him through the forward view port, "Find me my AllSpark."

With the hum of ancient hardware coming to life, and of sensors so old that they had been designed by Sentinel Prime himself when he had been very young coming online, Trypticon obeyed.


	49. Chapter 49: Faint and Far Away

Okay, OriginalElementa and others like her are right, we've had too long without anything from Aria or Nathanial. I think when I'm done here I'm going to have to rearrange these last few chapters. But until then everything's in a nice place for you guys to finish the story. Thank you to L.M.L., OriginalElementa, Autobot-Bre-Lightblast, and Bee4ever for reviewing! I really loved hearing from you guys!

One more thing! The **_next chapter_ _goes up __this Friday_**. Okay? After that there'll be a nice little epilogue and then we'll be done! XD I'm so excited. And kinda tired...man! Who knew a two and half year story could really take it out of you huh? :3

* * *

><p>To L.M.L.: Yeah I know! Knock Out is my favorite Prime Decepticon too. He's just so...persnickety. That and he sounds exactly like Timmy Turner's dad from Fairly Oddparents. It cracks me up! ;3 I'm glad you liked Trypticon's appearance too. That was a fun idea to entertain.<p>

And whether or not your dislike of Carly is important, it is shared. I liked Mikaela _much_ better. Too bad Megan Fox had to go and get her expelled... Now the con-kicking, MIT-student, future ambassador to Earth Carly from G1, _she_ I liked. I'm definitely going to include her later on. She was totally awesome and if Movie Carly was supposed to be modeled after her then they failed almost entirely. If you haven't seen her and don't mind watching a cartoon that was made in the 80's, then I highly recommend watching the G1 episode "The Immobilizer" if you can find it. It's Season 2 Episode 6.

Thanks so much for your nice review and I hope you (and everybody else) enjoy the next chapter! :)

...

The Long Road Home

49 – Faint and Far Away – 49

The _Ark_ looked very out of place on Effie's surface the morning of her departure. She was a thing of beauty to be sure – all viewports and rounded curves with gentle slopes of observation bubbles to provide the best view of the universe as it passed by – but she was an out of place beauty, like an albatross in a corn field.

The rotund mech Cosmos stood well back from her girth, not just to stay away from the bustle of the Autobots loading and checking in with the little organic femme as they boarded, but also to get a better view of the exploration vessel. It had been a long time since he'd been this close to such a prime example of Cybertron's golden age. And given what he'd heard from the newcomers, he wasn't sure if he'd ever get the chance again.

Aware that this might be the last time he would ever be close to a ship of her class, Cosmos stared up at the _Ark _and felt the smallest stirrings of some unknown feeling rise up in his spark. She made him feel...something. Something important, he knew, something buried deep down in his spark. And the longer he looked, the more he felt it. But he couldn't identify the feeling. It was nebulous, evaporating as soon as he got close to naming it. Maybe if he got closer, he thought, maybe then he could pinpoint just what exactly was-

"Don't even _think_ about it."

The short mech turned sharply at the familiar voice, faceplates heating in embarrassment.

But it was only Streamline standing behind him, arms crossed low over her chassis as she watched him with white-blue optics.

Cosmos blinked at her. "What are you talking about?" He tried to play innocent.

From the look Streamline gave him, she wasn't buying it. "I know you." She murmured as she stepped forward to join him. "You're not the sedentary bot most others take you for. You want adventure and excitement just like the rest of them. If you didn't, you wouldn't be all the way out here."

Cosmos didn't say anything, just looked down at his broad, flat digits as he pressed them together. She was right of course, he loved discovering new things, things no bot had ever seen before, but he was so lousy with other bots that he'd never gathered up the courage to volunteer for the exploratory missions he'd always dreamed of going on. So he'd come out here instead.

Streamline didn't push for an answer and remained silent as she tilted her head up to admire the _Ark_ looming above them like Cosmos had a moment ago. "I'm sure you'll get out there eventually Cosmos." She told him. "And I'm sure you'll do fine. I think you'd do well with those...Autobots. But," and here she turned to face him, a crooked smile on her faceplates that wasn't entirely humor, "if you think you can invite these strangers into our ecosystem and then ditch me, you've got another thing coming."

Cosmos drew back from the femme as she jabbed his chest for emphasis but couldn't think of anything to say to her. In the end he decided it was probably best if he didn't say anything at all.

Streamline straightened up and gave the _Ark _one last look. Then she sighed and turned away. "Anyway, I just came to say thank you," she told him, "for letting these bots stay on Organic Central. You know how I can be with others."

Cosmos nodded. Her display in the meeting that first orbit had been mild compared to others she'd had with bots at HQ that had tried to tell her how to run her experiments. "It's alright." He told her, waving away her thanks. He hadn't done it for her exactly. "What are you doing out here at this hour anyway?" He asked to try and shift the focus away from him.

Streamline was already walking away and answered him over her shoulder with a slight frown. "That femmeling of mine has disappeared again and I have the sneaking suspicion that wherever she is, that Bluestreak character is with her."

Cosmos blinked at the distrusting look on his colleague's faceplates. "You think he'll try something?" He asked. He hadn't gotten that impression from the young mech when he'd met him.

Streamline's frown deepened. "No," she admitted, "but I know Glyph too well to think she won't."

Cosmos resisted the urge to smile as Streamline walked away to go find her charge before she caused an uproar. Yep, that sounded like their Glyph. Curiosity always getting her into trouble. And with Bluestreak leaving with the most of the other Autobots on the _Ark_, this would be her last chance to get him into trouble for some time...

Cosmos shook his head from side to side. Like he was one to talk about getting himself into trouble Cosmos thought as he turned back to the _Ark_. But Streamline was right. He had loose ends to finish up here before he thought of starting another adventure. And leaving Streamline with this mess of bots wouldn't be fair...and would probably end in a massacre worthy of the headlines given all the disparate personalities now running the show.

Cosmos sighed as he turned away. _"Not today." _He thought as he returned to searching for the Prime. _"I won't be leaving with them today."_

But one day...one day soon he would. And he had no doubt he would get his chance to do great things when that day finally came.

...

In the end they had found four other ships along the space bridge's projected path in the allotted orn. The Autobot _Axalon_ as well as the three missing neutral ships. However in all that time none of the search parties had found any sign of the _Heaven's Carriage_ or the _Lost Light_.

_"And between the two of them I'm worried more about Dove than Hot Rod."_ Aria thought as she stood at the base of the _Ark's _entrance ramp, checking off names of personnel as they came on board, prepared for the long journey ahead of them. _"At least Roddy has that annoying habit of turning the universe inside out to suit his own needs. He and his crew will be fine. But Dove..."_

Aria frowned and tried to shunt her worry away as Brawn and Hound pushed the last of the energon supplies up the _Ark's _ramp for storage.

_"Well if there's one good thing about this place," _Aria thought as she checked their names off the roster and made a note for Prowl about the energon, _"it's that they've got more energon than they can consume in a lifetime, even with the sudden boom in population. We'll be set for a good long while now, especially if we really did lose the Decepticons back there."_

Aria scowled at that. No, she realized, they hadn't seen the last of the _Nemesis_. No matter what Percy said about space bridge travel and how many millions of miles Megatron was behind them, they hadn't seen the last of him.

_"Not by a long shot."_

Aria was shaken out of her dark musings by a tall shadow falling over her. She blinked against the sudden shade and looked up, smiling when she realized who it was.

"It took me a sec to recognize you with that thing on." She told him. "I guess it'll take some getting used to."

Optimus reached up automatically and ran a hand over the battle mask covering his lower face. "You're not the only one." He admitted, then indicated the data pad in her hand.

"Where are we?" He asked, solemnity returning.

Aria bit her lip in thought as she consulted her datapad. "Blaster got in touch with the Protectobots on the _Xantium _and redirected them to the dark mini-hub Streamline told us about. They should reach it in a little less than half an orn. Monsoon said they'll report in once they know the extent of the damage."

"And the _Axalon_? Can it still fly?" Optimus asked.

Aria frowned as she swiped a finger across the screen to reach a new page. The _Axalon_ had been the most damaged out of the ships to come to Organic Central and had arrived only a few hours ago.

"Not yet," she told him, "they landed early this morning with two heavily damaged engines and one that was nothing short of shredded, according to Cosmos. Apparently he does maintenance on more than just satellites. Ratchet and the neutral medibots should be finishing their scans of the crew pretty soon. We have all of our supplies on the _Ark_ so I think we're just waiting on him now."

Optimus nodded slowly but didn't speak. Aria watched him, trying to find some kind of clue as to what he was thinking, but with that mask on it was almost impossible.

She came down the _Ark's _ramp to stand closer to him. "You okay Optimus?" She asked him in a low voice so they wouldn't be overheard by the various bots still heading into the ship.

Optimus blinked, attention returning from wherever it had been. "Yes," he told her in a low voice, "or as close as can be expected."

It was as close to admission that he was _not_ okay Aria had heard from him in years.

"And you?" He asked, giving Aria a concerned look.

Aria fidgeted just a little as she fought her instinctive answer, but it squirmed its way out anyway. "Today _sucks_." She whispered, a habit she'd developed when the younglings had been small and been learning their 'bad words'.

Optimus raised an optic ridge at her. It had been awhile since he had heard her use any of her own race's swear words. Usually she saved them for special occasions of misery...

"Did something else happen with Nathanial?" He asked. It was the only thing he could think of that might elicit this kind of purely human reaction.

Aria groaned and hid her face behind the data pad. "Primus OP!" She grumbled behind the slab of circuits and plastic coverings. "I can't even think about any of that right now!"

Optimus frowned and bent closer, wondering if he'd missed the latest scene or two in the growing organic drama. "Why?"

Aria sighed behind her data pad and then shoved it under one arm, exposing her very red face. She shoved her overlong bangs back from her face with one hand and stared at the _Ark's_ ramp with a frown. "Because I'll cry, alright? I just know if I start into that whole big mess my tear ducts will crack open like rusted pipes."

"Okay," Optimus tried to reassure her, knowing how much she hated crying, "okay, just forget I said anything." He told her.

Aria nodded, embarrassed by what she suspected was her overreaction. "Thanks," she mumbled, adjusting her hold on the data pad so she wouldn't drop it again, "it's just-"

Optimus raised an optic ridge. "Complicated?" He hazarded a guess.

A corner of Aria's mouth twitched up. "As cliché as it sounds," she mumbled, "yeah."

Optimus nodded to show he understood. Aria thought he was one of the few that really could.

"Well if you change your mind," he spread his hands away from his sides, leaving the rest of his sentence unsaid.

Aria still understood. She nodded, feeling only somewhat better. It had been awhile since they'd had a conversation that didn't have anything to do with Decepticons.

Optimus nodded and straightened up. Before he could say anything else though a much younger voice spoke up behind him.

"Ah jeez Prime, are you making our sister cry? What happened to that embargo on bad news for awhile? It was the one good thing I liked about listening to Prowl go on for hours about how life would look for the next few orns."

Optimus wasn't surprised to see the two young fliers standing behind him each holding a small storage bin filled with energon and what passed for personal belongings. Aria however...

"Fastlane! Cloud!" She cried and managed to grin when she saw them, but the shadow underneath wasn't very well hidden. "You two come to see us off?"

Optimus grinned behind his battle mask, glad Aria couldn't see. The brothers just shared a look before turning back to their organic sister.

"See you off?" Fastlane asked. "No, not really. Although I guess we _will_ be there when you leave so I guess we'll sorta-"

Cloudraker cut him off with a well placed elbow in the side. "Mute it Fastlane, Prime obviously hasn't told her yet."

Aria's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She wasn't sure just how much more bad news she could handle. "Tell me what?" She asked slowly.

Fastlane beat Optimus to the punch. "We're coming with you genius!" He told her with a wide grin. "Sheesh, and here I was kinda hoping that you were crying cause Prime told you and you were so happy." He rolled his optics.

Cloudraker huffed through his vents. "More like she was upset to hear she'd have to babysit _you_ for the next age and a half."

"Hey!" Fastlane squawked indignantly and turned an incriminating digit on his brother. "Take that back! I'm her favorite and you know it!"

"Favorite?!" Cloudraker yelled back. "Yeah _right_, you're like, _tenth_ on the list if you're lucky."

"Tenth?! There's only seven of us!"

"I know."

Aria and Optimus ignored the Seekers as they continued to argue. Aria looked up at Optimus, stunned.

Optimus chuckled. Even with the mask, Aria could tell his faceplates had softened. "Smokerunner and Cloudcover requested that I transfer them to the _Ark_ for the duration of our search for the AllSpark. I think they felt easier knowing the three of you would be together." He explained.

It took Aria a moment to process this before the relief poured over her and some of the tension that had been pressing down on her shoulders the last few orbits lifted.

"Thanks OP." She murmured.

Optimus smiled at her, and then remembered she couldn't see it, so he quickly offlined and onlined one optic in his own version of the human gesture.

Aria laughed at his improvised wink but her attention was quickly caught as Fastlane started shouting over his brother, demanding Aria make Cloudraker apologize, for what Optimus hadn't heard.

"Apologize?! You're the one that called _me _a bolts for brains!" Cloudraker shouted back, gesturing wildly with his arms.

"Oh yeah? Well who brought up the scraplet incident, huh? It sure wasn't me!"

Cloudraker stared open mouthed. "_Yes_ it _was_! I haven't said anything about those stupid scraplets! That one's all you genius."

Optimus tuned out the Seekers as Aria waded into the middle of their bickering, most of the mechs that had lined up behind them to board the _Ark_ booing as she broke up the party. One mech was quiet though where he stood to one side of the line, waiting for the Prime to notice him.

Optimus frowned, and leaving Aria to deal with Fastlane and Cloudraker, he went and joined the green and yellow mech standing just beyond the Autobot flagship's boarding ramp. The last thing he heard from the trio was Fastlane's boisterous voice.

"You kiddin'?" He could hear the young mech's wide grin as he picked Aria up and deposited her on his broad shoulder so she could finish checking in the bots that had gathered behind him without craning her neck. "You, me, Cloud, and Bee all on the same ship exploring the universe in search of an ancient relic that could save the world? This is gonna be _awesome!_"

"Well," he dimly heard Aria say, "when you put it that way..."

The rest of their words faded into the background when he reached the other mech. "Has something come up Cosmos?" Prime asked as he joined him.

The shy maintenance mech stared at him a moment and Optimus had to remind himself that Cosmos was one of those bots that liked to be sure of what he said before he actually said it.

"Teletraan picked up a signal." He finally said, holding out the data pad he'd brought with him. Optimus frowned down at the screen, trying to understand what he was looking at.

"It's faint," Cosmos kept speaking as Optimus inspected the signal blinking in its far away location on the map, "and father out than anything I've ever seen, but it's definitely Cybertronian in origin."

Optimus' head came up at that. "The Cube?" He asked, trying to keep his hope in check and failing.

Cosmos blinked as he triple and quadruple checked scans he'd already double checked an hour ago when he'd first seen the signal Teletraan had found. "I believe so."

Optimus looked down at the screen again, optics growing bright and spark pounding in his chest. Those coordinates though- Optimus didn't even have a word for how much distance was between them and the signal.

"How did it get that far from Cybertron?" He asked Cosmos. "It only had a few orbital cycles head start on us. It shouldn't have made it that far."

Cosmos blinked again. "You said the AllSpark reactivated the space bridge you used to get here when it passed by. Maybe it did the same with the others."

Optimus looked down at the short mech. "Others?"

Cosmos nodded, no longer surprised by all the things these Autobots didn't know about their own history. Even the Prime.

"There's a whole net of space bridges out there, built during the golden age and left to rust when it ended. If the AllSpark really can reactivate them just by being in close proximity, then it's within reason that it was able to jump from one bridge to another as it flew. It must have finally reached the edge of the net and is now freefalling through space. That's why Teletraan didn't pick up the signal before now."

"And," Prime asked slowly, "the reason it lost the signal so quickly?"

Cosmos couldn't think of why he looked so worried. Did he think the Cube was so easily destroyed? "Even Teletraan can't detect all of space." He told Optimus Prime. "I would reason that when the Cube reached the end of the space bridge web, it reached the end of Teletraan's reach as well. You'll have to get close to the AllSpark now to pick up its signal again."

He shrugged, knowing how impossible that sounded. Even with the Cube's last known location, trying to find it now was like trying to find a hungry scraplet in a junk yard.

Optimus must have been thinking the same thing because Cosmos heard him sigh and then murmur, "Still, it's better than searching blind..."

He fell quiet as he stared at the signal blinking on the data pad's screen. Cosmos followed suit, not feeling any pressure to fill the silence.

Eventually the Prime nodded to himself. "We will need these coordinates-"

Cosmos actually cut off the Prime he was so nervous. "I've already sent them to Prowl. He should be downloading them into the _Ark's _navigation computer by now."

Optimus nodded, not upset about the interruption. "Thank you Cosmos," he said, meeting the shorter mech's optics, "for all of your help as well. If you ever decide to leave Organic Central, remember there's a place on the _Ark_ for you."

From the outside Cosmos looked the same as he always did, but inside his spark just about popped right out of his chest with excitement. A place on the Prime's ship! For _him_! It was almost too much to believe.

Cosmos almost asked right then and there to go with them before he remembered his promise to Streamline. Fortunately his mask prevented the Prime from seeing him standing there with his mouth hanging wide open.

He closed it and settled his eagerly pulsing spark as best he could before answering in his peculiar voice. "Thank you Prime. I'll keep that in mind."

Optimus' comm. line pinged before he could say anything else to the little bot, and not wanting to just stand there awkwardly, Cosmos moved away as the Prime answered the line.

"Yes Prowl." Optimus answered as Cosmos moved away without another word.

"We've finished our final checks." Prowl's voice was small but clear across the line. "Ratchet has checked in and all of our supplies are loaded. The only one we're waiting on now is you."

Optimus nodded without realizing it. "Alright. I'm on my way." He said before closing the line. He spared a moment to look up at the _Ark's _rounded curves and various observation bubbles before turning and heading towards the boarding ramp.

_"Finally," _he thought, _"it's time to start our long journey home."_

...

She found him in one of the _Ark's_ observation rooms, standing at the base of a long, wide window overlooking the passing stars. The _Ark_ and its contingent of Autobots – cybertronic and organic – had left the neutrals on Organic Central a few hours ago, following the brief blip of AllSpark energy Cosmos and Streamline's long range sensor net had picked up not long before. They'd lost the signal quickly, however the brief contact had shown the AllSpark several million lightyears away and traveling in the direction of just another lost and lonely corner of the galaxy. Percy hadn't found anything of interest about the location in the _Ark's _substantial computer records, but one thing was for sure; they had a long road ahead of them.

Aria crossed her arms over her chest as her anxiety spiked. It was that long journey that worried her. Or more specifically, what was she going to do about herself and the _Ark's_ only other organic inhabitant during the intervening lightyears.

Nathanial sighed in front of the window, startling Aria and making her jump at the sound as it echoed through the tall room. Her eyes darted back to him as he rested his hands flat upon the bottom of the sill and leaned his weight on them, head hanging down and shoulders hunching slightly. He looked tired.

Aria watched Nathanial's back another long minute, indecisive about what to do. _"I should go." _She finally told herself. _"Peg was his partner for years. I should go."_

But she couldn't make her feet obey her. Instead of turning around, they took her farther into the observation room, until she was standing just behind him.

She stood there, fingers twisting in front of her with the weight of her awkwardness, unsure of what to do. Should she say something? But what was there to say? 'I'm sorry' just seemed so...small. A drop in the bucket and unhelpful besides.

She raised a hand to touch his shoulder, offer some kind of comfort no matter how small, but lost her nerve before she actually touched him.

Aria drew her hand back, wrapping her arms around herself and looking away. She knew that he knew she was there, but it felt like there was an empty space surrounding him like a shield that, if not meant for everyone, still did a good job at keeping her out. This was the first time they'd even been in the same room together for more than a few minutes since they'd found Organic Central.

It wasn't that she had been avoiding him – well, not _that _much if she was being honest with herself – and Aria didn't think he'd been avoiding her either per say. It was just that...well what was she supposed to say? 'Sorry you just lost one of your closest friends saving me even though our relationship might have gone up in smoke like a nuclear wasteland'? That wasn't a condolence as much as it was a reminder that he had made the wrong choice.

Aria cringed at the thought. She took it back! She hadn't meant that! She never thought Nat regretted saving her. She _didn't_.

She gnawed at her lip and held herself tighter. She didn't...

She finally couldn't stand it anymore, shield or no shield, intruding or not, she let her head fall forward, arms still wrapped around herself to try and keep warm in the cold room.

Aria felt Nathanial tense when her forehead dropped against the middle of his back, right between his shoulder blades. She waited what felt like a long time, but he didn't tell her to get off.

They were silent for long minutes, each aware of the other but unable to bring themselves to acknowledge them; each alone despite their close proximity. Stars passed them in white speed lines beyond the window as the _Ark's_ damaged enginesmoved just under the speed of light.

"I miss her too." Aria finally said in a small voice.

Nathanial went perfectly still and Aria feared she'd overstepped. A thread of anger burned that fear out of her rather quickly. Peg had been her friend too. Maybe not as long as she and Nat had been friends, and maybe not as close either, but that didn't matter. Aria felt her death too. It was another hole to add to the empty space under her ribcage.

Nathanial shrugged stiffly, the movement making Aria rise her head. She held herself tighter and squeezed her eyes shut. She'd been right before; he didn't want her here. She should have just left-

Nathanial turned around before Aria could berate herself any further. Aria stared at him as he carefully gripped her arms just above her elbows. He didn't meet her gaze, but Aria saw that his face was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. He hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since they'd gone through the bridge.

Aria felt her heart go out to him. She wanted to just wrap her arms around him and hold him tight, but something held her back. Something _always_ held her back. Her head was so muddled with grief and fear and anxiety that she couldn't even tell you what that something was anymore.

He tugged at her arms lightly still looking at the floor as his own head swam with uncertain emotion. Aria felt her arms loosen around her own body and in slow, hesitant motion they came together. Aria wrapped her arms up and around his back, her head turned so that she was looking away with her cheek was pressed against his shoulder. She felt him hold tight to her, his fingers twisting the fabric of her shirt at her lower back as he shook. On the edge of her spark Aria could still feel the empty space where Nathanial's tether line with Peg had been.

Aria closed her eyes, gathered tears spilling down her face as the motion dislodged them from the corner of her eyes. She could distantly feel Nat's shorn off end of the tether now through the stone set in the back of his neck. This was the first time she'd been close enough to him to feel his broken end of the line.

They stood there for a long time, neither speaking as they held each other too tight. And beneath the shadows of the passing stars, they grieved all they had lost.


	50. Chapter 50: The Obvious Conclusion

Oh I'm all hyped up on excitement! Not only are we almost finished and I got some majorly awesome reviews, but I also saw Age of Extinction last night for the midnight premiere! It was so _awesome!_ People were clapping and cheering when Bumblebee and Grimlock appeared. And it was on a truly **ginormous **imax screen so it certainly _felt_ like I was an itty bitty human meeting sixteen ton robot dinosaurs... o.O

But I was pleasantly surprised by it all. I think the first is still my all time favorite, and I miss the original human cast (though these humans were good choices, good characters, and the bad guys were spectacularly evil), but 4 was _sooo_ much better than 3. Though being worse in my opinion would have been...hard to do. .

Anyway! Thank you so much to Bee4ever, Abyss Prime (sorry I made you cry... n_n;), L.M.L., Jimmy 144, Nightwing101 (only one more chapter until you get your answer Nightwing ;3), and Ironhidesbabe. Especially Ironhidesbabe! Man you're so sweet! Thank you so much! You made me feel just so wonderful when I was feeling pretty dang miserable. So thank you a thousand times!

Now I hope you guys like the chapter! And don't feel like I coped out of the age issue...This is honestly how I thought life went for Atlantians, I swear! Probably watched too much of Disney's Atlantis as a kid... ;) Anyway, enjoy!

...

The Long Road Home

50 – The Obvious Conclusion – 50

Aria wasn't sure if things really changed after that first day on the _Ark_, but the tension between her and Nathanial was...altered after that. It was still there, but it was softer, more subdued. It still fed off their questions and insecurities after the loss of Cybertron, but there was just so much for them to do that there was only a limited amount of time to indulge them all.

For the first few weeks they didn't talk much; they still weren't trying to avoid each other of course, but Peg's death still hung heavy on their hearts. It was just so hard to make any kind of effort to be happy with her death so fresh in their minds.

It wouldn't stay that way forever, they both knew that, but it would still take time. Everything between them just needed time.

So time passed.

...and passed...

...and _passed_...

Peg was stamping and snorting in her grave by the time her humans finally realized they _were _in fact avoiding one another. But what could they do? Sure, they could bite the bullet and talk to each other, but since when did any good ever come of _that?_ No, they just needed to figure something else out. And until they did, well, who really needed those awkward attempts at casual conversation anyway?

The day finally came when they didn't have a choice in the matter. Maybe Peg really was watching over them from the great beyond, maybe Hound just got tired of their pussy-footing around each other and 'accidentally' pushed a button he shouldn't have. Either way, Nat and Aria soon found themselves trapped in the most thankless, awkward-inducing contraption ever invented by man or machine.

They got trapped in an elevator.

Like everything else on the _Ark_, the elevator was old. Almost freakishly so in Aria's opinion. It moved so slow that it took half an hour to get from the bottom levels to the command deck, the gears ground obnoxiously every five levels or so, and it swayed in the most disconcerting manner if it went higher than level five. That and it always got stuck at level thirty-three for no reason anyone could find. Hound was supposed to have fixed that but...well he just wasn't a certified mechanic now was he?

Thankfully there was no music. That was the only thing that could have possibly made it any worse, Aria would reflect years later. Although it did make the silence rather loud.

They had stood there, each trying not to look at one other, but finding their eyes kept sliding towards their companion anyway. Of course then the person they were staring at without meaning to would look up and there would be that awkward smile that wasn't really a smile, the one that said, "Um, hi. Do I have something on my face or what?"

Embarrassed to be caught staring, the first person would give the answering, "No, you're fine, sorry," smile back and then quickly look away. They would fidget uncomfortably for the next few minutes and then the whole process would start over, only this time it would be the second person that started staring at the first.

After one long, grueling, twenty minute time frame of nothing but the above and only the vaguest assurances from Grapple that he would have the elevator running again in no time, Nathanial _finally_ broke the silence.

"You, ah, you look nice."

If she'd been watching a movie and a man had said that to his crush, Aria would have cringed. As it was she tried to remind herself to make eye contact at least once in awhile so Nat wouldn't think she was actively trying to ignore him.

She looked down at her feet and nervously pulled her hair behind her ear. "Thanks." She mumbled, smiling anxiously. She didn't think she'd changed much in the few months since they'd left Cybertron, but then maybe she was wrong. It wasn't like the _Ark _had many mirrors...

Feeling the crushing need to say something else, Aria glanced over at Nat and made a vague gesture at him. "So do you." She mumbled.

By now the two humans wished there really was bad elevator music playing. Anything had to be better than this painfully awkward silence-

"Do you," Nathanial started hesitantly, "want to have dinner tonight? With me I mean." He added quickly. "Naturally you'll want something to eat before tomorrow and, erm-"

Before he could babble any further Aria quickly put in, "Sure," then she stopped and added a bit slower, "sure that, um, that'll be fine."

It was not fine. It was so far from fine that only a date with Megatron could _possibly _have gone any worse. And as Aria trudged back to her room after the abysmal first re-date, she couldn't help but wonder-

"What the frack are we _doing_?"

She slumped and sighed. Truth was she just didn't know anymore. She had been so _angry _when Nathanial had told them about the dark energon lens, and even though she'd come to an understanding about the whole situation, when she thought about how she had reacted, about all those horrible things she'd said...

The shame snuck up on her and she wrapped her arms around herself as if that could ward off the sadly familiar feeling. It didn't.

She continued her long shuffle towards her room – an empty crevice in the ship's layout that Grapple had since walled off and given doors for her convenience. He'd done something similar for Nathanial on the other side of the ship, ostensibly because it was set next to the living quarters for the rest of the mechs.

Aria didn't know if that was why he'd put so much space between the two of them or not, or if he just saw the writing on the wall she didn't want to make out. Either way it made for a long and lonely walk home that night.

Aria withdrew farther into herself at the stinging word. Lonely. It had been on her mind a lot lately, especially with the cold places in her spark where Chromia, Elita, Arcee, Val, and Wheeljack were supposed to be.

_"Because that's what it really boils down to," _Aria thought as she walked, eyes unable to look away from the floor in front of her, _"we're going to be out here a long, long time. The only organics in a crowd of mechanical life. Alone together."_

She huffed a laugh, not really finding it funny. _"That's what it is, isn't it? We're alone together. Of course we would end up together. What other choice do we have?"_

Aria's autopilot suddenly disengaged and she came to a sudden stop in the center of the hall. She stood there, not noticing, eyes watching her shoes without seeing them.

_"Even if we do get back together," _she thought slowly, _"how will we know – how will we _ever_ know – if what we're feeling is love or just...loneliness?"_

And that's what all her fear came down to, she realized. It hadn't mattered before he'd come to Cybertron because she'd been the only human around. And while she loved her bots, she knew she wasn't _in_ love with any of them. She couldn't even imagine how that would work honestly. But now...

How did she know if she loved Nathanial or if she just didn't want to be alone anymore? How would they know the difference when it was just the two of them out here?

Feeling cold and empty inside, Aria finally arrived at her room. She swiped her hand in front of the reader Grapple had installed for her so she wouldn't have to worry about losing keys or having the twins rummaging around in her private space. It recognized her as an organic and the door slid open with the barest of sounds.

Aria slumped inside, not comforted by the machinery's smooth operations. She missed her old door, the one you had to twist the knob and throw your shoulder against to get it open because it had started to stick.

_"It's all probably just splinters now..."_ She thought glumly.

The door closed automatically behind her, cutting off the light from the hallway. She slapped one hand at the wall right of the door, fumbling for the lights. And then sighed in aggravation as she remembered the controls in her new living space were on the left.

Her fingers finally found the smooth control panel and the lights came up fast enough that she snapped her eyes closed to keep from being blinded. Aria muttered to herself as she fumbled for the controls again.

"Stupid knob thingy..." she grumbled to herself as she dimmed the lights to half power.

She blinked her eyes open when she was out of danger of being blinded. Frustrated and disheartened by everything that had happened today, she looked around at her room with flat eyes. A broad expanse of gray greeted her. The walls were gray. The furniture was gray. Heck, even the clothes strewn on the floor and hanging out of the half open drawers were turning gray from too many washings. The only smudge of color around were the dark blue sheets and the smudge of pink that was her ipod sitting on her bedside table.

"At least it's not orange." Aria grumbled for the sake of grumbling. "I wouldn't be able to sleep surrounded by that glaringly-ugly orange color."

Feeling miserable, Aria slouched across her room, scooping down to pick up the sheets she'd dragged to the floor when she'd rolled out of bed that morning. Tossing them to the foot of the bed, she flopped down on the springy surface of her mattress and lay there for a long minute face down in the pillow.

When she came to the edge of smothering herself, she rolled over. Her face was red and too hot, but cooled quickly in the chilled air. If there was one thing she liked about her new living space it was that the a/c worked almost too well.

She sighed and stared up at the ceiling, feeling like she was drowning in a sea of non-color. There weren't that many personal touches in here and Aria knew she probably wouldn't get the chance to change that any time soon. She had her journal and old diabetes equipment in here somewhere, but that was about it. No pictures on the dresser. Nothing on the walls...

Aria stopped and blinked as something finally registered. There _was_ something on her wall now, hanging above the head of her bed. If she tilted her head back she could just make out the thick bottom edge of whatever it was.

She sat up and twisted around to see what it was. "_That_ wasn't here when I left this morning."

Aria got to her knees and shuffled closer to get a better look. She couldn't make out many details in the dim light. Just that it was rectangular and close to two feet long and half as high. She _thought _there was something carved into its surface, but it blended in so well with the shadowed walls that she couldn't be sure...

Aria came to a stop in front of the headboard and peered at her new decoration. There were familiar craggy lines carved in its surface. They were glyphs, she realized, made out of wavering lines like they'd been made by a five year old.

The read _'Jie Mei'_.

Aria stood there in shock. It was her _Jie Mei_. The one from her bedroom wall. The one Arcee and Bumblebee had made for her good house. But...how had it ended up here?

The obvious answer hit her a second later as she ran disbelieving fingers over the craggy edges of the glyphs.

"He did this...for me?" She mumbled the words out load before she realized it. And she laughed, a sound filled with relief and happiness and what felt like a thousand other things. He couldn't have made himself clearer if he'd written 'I LOVE YOU' in bright red, capital letters.

Aria jumped off the bed, nearly landing on her face when her foot got stuck on the edge of the mattress. She managed to free herself in time and tripped towards the door before finally getting her balance back. Forgetting the lights, she smacked the door open and took off down the hall back the way she'd come.

She found Nathanial just where she expected him to be; in the _Ark's _wide hanger space talking with Air Raid and Fastlane about some modifications they might need to better handle space flight. Nat might not be able to fly anymore, and Peg never would've stepped hoof in the void even if Nathanial had wanted to try, but with Wheeljack absent, the organic mech had become the _Ark's_ resident engineer. And after so much time with Peg, he knew almost as much as Wheeljack, although he did lack the mech's more explosive tendencies.

Nobody really minded that last part.

Aria wasn't really thinking about any of this as she ran across the room, focused on the lone human like she had blinders on.

They finally noticed her when she was a few feet away.

Nathanial looked surprised to see her. "Aria? What's wron-_oof!_"

He was cut off as she ran into him, arms wrapping around his neck as she knocked them both to the ground in a half-sitting sprawl. Between her gasping for air and the effort she was putting into trying not to cry, it took Nathanial a moment to understand what she was saying.

"Thank you," she kept gasping, arms wrapped around him tight, "Thank you so much Nat, thank you."

She was dimly aware that she was babbling as tears slid down her face and soaked into his collar. "And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry about everything I said and I just-"

Aria suddenly ran out of things to apologize and thank him for so she just stopped talking and shook her head against his shoulder without looking up. She hated to think of the state she must be in by now.

Nathanial had sat there quietly while she'd babbled her sorries and thank yous, either stunned by Aria's sudden appearance or her abrupt change of heart Air Raid couldn't tell as he watched the two organics on the floor.

From his taller height, the Aerialbot watched as Nathanial finally registered what had happened, closed his eyes, and wrapped his arms around Aria.

Air Raid couldn't help but grin and he didn't even _try _to hide it. The organics had just been so miserable since Tyger Pax, even more so since they'd boarded the _Ark_. It was nice to finally see them stop being so...stupid.

Fastlane must have been thinking along the same lines because Air Raid heard a not-so-quiet, "Well it's about freakin' time," behind his shoulder.

Aria and Nat didn't hear him, but the older mech turned before Fastlane said anything else that might distract them. "Come on you," he muttered, turning the young Seeker around and shoving him from behind, "leave 'em alone will ya? Unless you _want _to see your older sister make up with her mech friend."

Fastlane made a disgusted face, tongue sticking out and everything. "Oh _gross_. Thanks for putting _that_ in my memory banks Air Raid!" He grumbled, but headed towards the door without many more complaints.

Aria and Nathanial hardly noticed their departure where they sat, faces so close together their foreheads were touching.

"Sorry it took so long to put it up." Nat told her, voice quiet, "I had Sunny smooth down the edges so it wouldn't look like a piece of wall. You know how picky he can be about his work."

Aria huffed a still breathless giggle. She did know. But it didn't matter it had taken Sunny so long to make the glyphs presentable. What mattered to her was that Nathanial had brought them at all. Just to try and make this the slightest bit easier for her.

All the doubts she'd had before went silent in the face of this proof. And all of her questions vanished, except one.

"Do you want to try this again?" She asked sheepishly.

Nathanial's relieved smile was enough to make her spark-heart flicker. "Dinner and a movie tomorrow." He told her. "I think Percy's got a screen we can use."

The tension abruptly left Aria's shoulders as she gave Nathanial a small, answering smile. "Sounds great."

...

Things got decidedly better after that. No more doubts, no more worries about why they were together. Aria knew what she felt and it wasn't because Nathanial was the only man she had seen for the past who-knew-how-many vorns. The simple truth was that she loved him. And in the time that followed, she only became more and more certain of that.

It was kind of strange in a way, how _normal_ their relationship was after that. They went on dates, they had jobs, they even got caught making out in closets on occasion, much to their embarrassment and Fastlane's trauma...

Alright, so 'normal' was still a stretch, but it was as close as they could come when some of those dates they went on took place on populated organic alien planets. And after those last few months living on Cybertron, any kind of normality (no matter how stretched the definition was) was a great and tremendous relief.

And with the amount of effort they put into having a normal relationship, it really shouldn't have surprised Aria when one night, after an unusually extravagant dinner of actual organic food they'd picked up a few orbits ago, Nathanial pulled a small box out of his pocket, got down on one knee and asked Aria to be his wife.

Aria stared at him. Despite everything she _was_ surprised. And her reaction was anything but average.

An undignified, strangled off squawk escaped her mouth before she clapped a hand over it. Eyes wide – why had she done _that?! _– she stared at Nathanial still kneeling in front of her, an uncertain look on his face now.

She felt her face turn red as he watched her anxiously. "I'm...sorry?" He managed to say. Obviously that wasn't the answer he'd been hoping for.

It wasn't exactly what Aria had expected herself to say either.

She wanted to stand and pace, but couldn't bring herself to move other than the anxious wringing of her hands in her lap. Nathanial watching her from where he still knelt on the floor didn't help anything.

"I-" she stuttered, heart pounding, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Nathanial looked like she'd just kicked him in the stomach. "What?" He managed to strangle out, but Aria couldn't make herself say it again.

Nathanial finally looked away. Not sure what else to do with the ring, he put it down on the table. "I don't understand," he finally said, "do you not want to get married?" He asked in disbelief. This was _not_ how he had pictured this evening going.

"Of course I _want_ to," Aria said, somewhat defensive, "it's just, I'm not exactly-" She fidgeted in her chair and blew out a frustrated sigh before deciding to just rip the Band-aid right off, "I'm older than you."

Nathanial stared at her, wondering if this had some other meaning on Cybertron that he didn't know about.

"What?" He asked again.

Aria sighed again and bit her lip. "No, I mean," she gestured nervously with one hand, running the other through her hair anxiously, "a _lot _older than you." She tried again. "Like I can't even count how much older."

Some understanding began to creep up on Nathanial. And then, scaring Aria half to death, he started to laugh.

"I'm not kidding!" She said loudly, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward to take his hands firmly in hers, her face filled with concern. "Nathanial I've been here a long time. A lot longer than you can probably believe. I had this auto-immune disease called diabetes back home and when I came here they had to make medication just for me. It lengthened my lifespan and then when they gave me my spark to revive me-"

She got no further. Nathanial managed to get a hold of himself enough to finally stop her. "Aria," he spoke over her, grinning widely, "Aria I know all that."

Aria went still. "You...you do?" She said very slowly.

Nathanial smiled and nodded at her. "Yes." He told her, and then shrugged one shoulder. "Well, admittedly I didn't know about the illness, but I got a pretty decent idea of how old you were when you told me you had a spark." His face suddenly turned a little red. "Talking with Ratchet later only confirmed my suspicions."

Aria eyed him, not liking the idea of him asking Ratchet about her age at all, but she let it go in the face of the larger discussion. "So...you're alright with the fact that I'll outlive you?" She asked. She had kind of hoped he wouldn't be because she still wasn't sure how she felt about it. Yes, yes so she would still have sixty or so years with the man, but what about after that? Would the time of one average lifespan make his inevitable loss worth it?

Nathanial was still grinning, although he was trying to hide it better now. "What makes you think you'll outlive me, huh?"

Aria fidgeted, not liking this line of questioning. "Well," she started, not able to meet Nat's optics as she fidgeted again, "considering I stopped counting how old I was at fifty vorns – and that vorns are longer than years although I don't know by how much – I thought it was a pretty safe bet."

Nathanial shook his head and laughed again, making Aria frown at him. "This isn't funny Nathanial." She tried to sound stern but it came out more anxious than anything. Her stomach was all in knots. "Just because _you _won't have to worry about anything in another fifty vorns doesn't mean _I _won't have to!"

Nathanial quickly wiped his grin away. "Alright Aria, sorry, sorry." He told her as he squeezed her hand and got to his feet just long enough to take the seat next to her. Aria eyed him. She could still see he found something about this conversation outrageously funny. _What_ she had no idea...

"Aria," he said after a moment of thoughtful silence, "do you even know how old you are?" Nathanial asked.

Aria scowled at him, brain still trying to process what was happening. "Of course I do. I'm..." she hesitated, needing to add up suspected numbers in her head, "I'm a hundred and forty-two vorns."

She nodded smartly, outwardly sure of her statement.

Nathanial did not look impressed. "According to Ratchet you're a hundred and forty-three."

Aria's face fell and in an obvious attempt to change the subject she grumbled, "Oh man, I missed a birthday!" She prodded her boyfriend in the side. "You guys so owe me presents."

Despite the fact his gut was tied in knots because Aria _still_ hadn't given him an answer to his proposal, Nat smiled. "What do you think those earrings were for?" He asked her. And then after pausing long enough to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth, he asked, "You have no idea what a vorn means in human years, do you?"

Aria looked up in mild embarrassment. "...no." She finally admitted.

He hung his head and laughed. "You are the first woman I've ever met that doesn't care how old she is."

Aria frowned. "I do to care. What do you think I forget so often?"

"I think we're getting off topic." Nathanial reminded her.

Aria felt her spine go rigid. As if she needed a reminder. "We are not getting off topic. This _is_ the topic and we are squarely on it." She told him firmly.

She was avoiding him and he knew it. "I thought we were talking about how you were going to agree to marry me." He said, rather hopefully.

"I thought we were talking about how that _might_ not be such a good idea." Aria mumbled, feeling like her heart was going to twist itself in half.

Nat smiled as he turned to face her more. "Aria," he said slowly, that grin still trying to escape from the corner of his mouth, "I'm one hundred and twenty-four vorns old."

Aria blinked at him, face blank. "...no you're not." She finally managed.

Nat nodded slowly, smiling more openly now. "I'm pretty sure I know how old I am." He told her. "Although you're right, it does get hard to keep track after awhile. That's why we start counting in vorns after the first hundred years or so back home."

Aria still hadn't processed this information yet. "But," she tried, "you can't be! That's like, I dunno, a thousand Earth years!"

Nat snorted. That wasn't even close to either of their respective ages. But he saw how much difficulty this was giving her so instead he went for the vague answer. "More, but we can come back to that later." He patted her hands where they still sat in her lap. "My point is, in the grand scheme of things there isn't much of an age difference between us. And unless the Decepticons catch up with us, I've got just as much of a chance to be around in another fifty vorns as you do."

Aria was still staring at the space in front of her, her mouth hanging open slightly. "But..._how?_"

Nathanial shrugged. "I'm not sure how it started exactly," he admitted, "but there must have been some kind of gene mutation in one or even several of our ancestors back on Earth and it spread to their descendents and later onto the rest of us that now live on Atala. That's one of the reasons my great-grandfather's generation left Earth. Their longevity made the rest of the people...uneasy.

"_That_ plus the technological advances such as nanites and limited energon exposure brought about by our contact with Nexus Prime, lengthened our life spans even further. I asked Ratchet and he said his tests showed my projected lifespan runs relatively close to a Cybertronian," he grinned and squeezed Aria's hand again, "and, consequently, you."

A thread of hope made Aria's spine tingle. "So," she asked in a quiet voice, turning wide blue eyes on Nat, "I won't outline you?"

Nathanial's face softened. "Well you might," he told her gently, "but not because you've got part of a spark and I don't."

Aria looked down at her spark where it glowed dimly through her nice blouse. For awhile now she'd been afraid to think about how much older she was compared to Nathanial, about how much longer she'd live after him. She'd even been dreading this night because she'd thought-

She shook her head. It didn't matter what she'd thought because she'd been wrong. All this time she'd worried over nothing...

Nathanial shifted next to her, pulling her attention towards him again as he took both of her hands in his nervously. His quiet voice was no less anxious when he spoke. "So with all that in mind," he said, very aware of how hard his heart was beating in his chest as he leaned closer just slightly, "Aria, will you marry me?"

Aria stared at him, blue eyes going over the by now familiar sight of his face and taking note of the little things there. Like the slight tightness of his mouth at the corners and how he watched her with no small amount of hope.

He was nervous, she knew. So was she, she realized.

_"All that time worried over nothing..."_ she thought.

She didn't really have to think about what to say now that she knew that and her answer escaped her as a single, quiet, eager word.

"_Yes._"


	51. Epilogue: One Last Loose End

Well folks, it looks like we've finally made it. The final chapter. Man I really hope you like it! :3 I just want to thank everyone who thought my story was worth reading. Without you guys I never would have made it this far and as hard as life feels like right now, it means more than I can say that you guys stuck with me this long. And I really hope to see you guys again when I post my future works!

Speaking of future works, Aria and the others still have lots of life left ahead of them and I'm working hard to get their story written down, but honestly? I'm tired. I didn't expect _Long Road Home _to be this long. I just need a little breathing space. My family and I are going on vacation at the end of the month so I'm going to give myself until then to just...relax and try and get my head together. I'll probably post some writings that have accumulated on my computer over the past two years (such as an TF Animated story I started to doodle up like, a year ago, hopefully some more bits for _Skyangel _and _Sing Me to Sleep_, and probably Dovetail's spin-off story that I mentioned before) so in the mean time hopefully none of us will be bored. ;)

The next story in Aria's Sparkfinder Saga is more of a bridge story called _Across the Bounding Interstellar_ _Waves _and will (hopefully) be rather short. And it will be followed by the longer and more tentatively titled _Planet Hoppers_. Just a heads up for what to expect in the future.

Other than that all I have to say is a great, expansive, all encompassing THANK YOU! You guys mean so much to me and I'm grateful for every review, every hit, every fav and alert that y'all saw fit to give me. Thank you for having patience with me when my procrastination and perfectionist ways got in between me and deadlines and I can hardly wait to see all of you again as the story continues! Bless you all and I really hope you enjoy the conclusion to _The Long Road Home!_

* * *

><p>Also L.M.L.? Is there some way I can contact you without having to use these chapters? I don't want to be creepy and ask for anything too direct so are you on Tumblr or Deviantart or some other website that has a messaging system you don't mind using? I enjoy talking with you, but it's kind of difficult doing it this way...sorta like sending up smoke signals and just hoping that the other person got the message. n_n; Anyway, if you don't want to give me that sort of thing I understand. And hopefully I'll see you when I start posting Dovetail's story in the near-ish future! Til then! :)<p>

...

The Long Road Home

Epilogue – One Last Loose End – Epilogue

Their wedding was as strange and unexpected as the rest of their relationship and almost none of the guests that came understood what was going on.

"I don't get it."

"Yeah, if they want to be sparkmates-"

"Married, Sideswipe, humans call it being married."

"Pfft, whatever. If they want to be _married_ _– _don't give me that look Mirage you know I don't really care – then what do they need Prime and us for?" Sideswipe spread his hands out to indicate the two beaming humans standing near the front of the long room with Prime. "I mean, all they gotta do is find somewhere quiet and remember to lock the door. Forget all this complicated courting stuff." He grumbled.

Sunstreaker snickered. "Like Ironhide." He muttered with a grin at the mech standing nearby.

_That_ didn't go over too well. Ironhide whirled around and jabbed a digit at the snickering twins. "Mute it sunshine! I didn' ferget _nuthin_' courtin' Chromia and if you say otherwise again I'm gonn break yer precious voicebox."

The twins just tried to smother more laughter at Ironhide's threats. They hadn't heard him drop that many g's since Sunny had made that comment about Chromia's backside before anyone had known she and Ironhide were a single item. Needless to say, it had been an interesting way to find out...

Hound leaned backwards on his heels slightly where he stood in front of the arguing mechs. "If the three of you don't mute it soon I think we're going to have another Daycare Disaster on our hands."

The lot of them looked over Hound's shoulder and saw that whatever was going on at the front of the room had paused, not because of them, but because Aria was sending them a look that Wheeljack probably could have weaponized with the proper energy source.

All three of them froze like permafrost. They hadn't seen _that_ look in awhile either.

"I think we'd stand a better chance on that Decepticon ship." Sides muttered to his brother when Aria finally turned away.

"Only if you ruin this for them." Mirage muttered back with a sideways glare at his neighbors. He _knew_ he should have sat on the other side of the aisle...

"Yeah, whatever," Sunny grumbled, touchy from all the threats to his glorious person, "I still don't get why we have to be here at all."

Mirage shrugged one shoulder but didn't look away from Aria and Nat. Prime had stopped speaking now and Nat was saying something to Aria, but with the twins chattering like servo-monkeys it was hard to tell what. "It's a bonding ceremony. They need witnesses for it to be official."

Sunny and Sides jerked back with comically wide optics. "Oh _eww!_"

Mirage's right optic started to twitch. "Not like that you morons!" He turned around and shouted at them.

Everybody froze again. They could practically feel Aria trying to melt their armor with her eyes.

Mirage's shoulders slumped as he finally gathered enough courage to turn back around and face the bride. "...sorry Aria." He mumbled.

He shot the twins a furious glare of his own when Aria finally went back to ignoring them.

Sunny and Sides weren't phased. "Well what do they need witnesses _for _then? Just to see 'em make all these doofy promises?"

Mirage stubbornly kept his optics forward, although he still scowled at their question. _"I will not be sucked in." _He repeated stubbornly in his head._ "I will not be sucked in."_

Ironhide was not as strong. "They are not _doofy_." He grumbled, thoroughly annoyed now. He wanted to hear slaggit! "This is a big deal you dolts. Like those family contracts they used to make way back when before the High Council was founded."

Sunny and Sides shared a confused look. "Like those what now?"

Mirage sighed in complete frustration. Of all the- "Family contracts." He repeated, albeit _very _quietly. "In the time after the Breaking of the Thirteen but before Prima was found and became the first Prime, Cybertron was ruled by the descendents of the Thirteen."

Sideswipe's optics grew round. "The Thirteen had _kids_?" He breathed.

Mirage nodded. It was astonishing how little the youngling centers had taught _anyone _in the final days. But then, most outside the noble houses had written off stories of the Thirteen as nothing but myth and fabrication, so perhaps their ignorance was not entirely Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's fault. "Not all of them, but yes. And when Liege Maximo and the Fallen shattered the bond of the Thirteen, the break sent out a shockwave that shattered all their descendents' bonds as well."

Sunny frowned. "That's not how it works." He griped. "Your bonds don't break just because someone else's does."

Mirage wasn't sure, but he thought Sunstreaker looked nervous that he could be wrong. As annoying, selfish, and downright narcissistic as Sunny was, Sideswipe was still his twin. He was all he had. And if he lost that because of someone _else_...well Mirage didn't want to test the popular theory that Sideswipe was the only thing keeping Sunstreaker from being an honest to Primus psychopath.

"Not now," he tried to reassure the gold mech, "but the Thirteen's bond was the _first_ bond. All of their creations' bonds were built off of that. When it broke, everything else collapsed."

They had managed to disrupt the ceremony _again_, and even Nat was starting to look furious now. "As _fascinating_ as that all is Raj..." he tried to say.

But Mirage held out a hand. "Hold on I'm almost done."

Aria and Nat shared a frustrated scowl. "Yeah, so were we." The organic femme grumbled, but listened in reluctant fascination nonetheless.

"They were alone..." Sideswipe mumbled, ignoring the organics entirely now. Sure he'd been alone lots of times – in the old Pit rings, when he had been off trying to ambush Decepticons while the rest of his team got into position – but he'd never been _alone_ alone. Since he'd first crawled out of the Well, Sunny had been there. He couldn't even imagine the horror of having their twin bond just disappear on him like that...

Mirage nodded. "Helpless, open to sparkshock and attack from aliens and the Chaos-Bringer, _and_ alone." He clarified. "That's where the contracts came in. Bots would make a contract between two parties – sometimes more but that was rare – and the contract would be sealed by the parties forming a bond. Sometimes sparkbonds, like the noble houses still did before the war, but mostly sibling bonds like we have today. In the end large 'family' units formed as the contracts began to attract more and more bots.

But since secrecy was what destroyed the Thirteen, the oldest creations like Gamma and Adjutrix Vale– my _own_ ancestor of course – decreed that for a contract to be recognized, it had to be witnessed by others who could vouch that it was true."

Sunny was eyeing the former noble suspiciously now. "What was the catch?" He grumbled. "I mean you had to give 'em something to let you into this contract, didn't you?"

Mirage shrugged again. "Some contracts were based more on mutual alliances, yes. However no matter what kind of physical trade was involved, if any, all of them ended with the different parties recognizing the other as family. They would promise to look out for each other, support and protect each other when they were attacked or fell ill, no matter what happened." Mirage shrugged and gestured at Aria and Nathanial before them. "That eventually evolved into the bonding ceremony we have today."

"Except the Prime had nothing to do with it a'course since there wasn't one yet." Ironhide added. "And he _still_ doesn't have any authority over any kind of bonding. Yer _supposed_ to just stand in front of the Covenant of Primus."

He frowned over at Aria and the twins got the impression he'd mentioned this many times before.

"Be quiet, he's the closest we've got." Aria reminded him for the umpteenth time.

"Hey!" Sideswipe suddenly yelled, an incriminating digit swinging wildly between Ironhide and Mirage. "They interrupted you too! Why don't you yell at them? Yell at them femme!"

"Because they don't _whine_ as much as you do." Nat groused.

"And so far Raj is the only one that even _sort of_ gets it." Aria added, and then sniffed and wiped something out of the corner of her eye. "And that last part was beautiful."

Sideswipe groaned. "Oh come _on_..."

The humans were already ignoring him again.

Sideswipe rolled his optics and huffed a frustrated sigh. "Alright _fine_. Important ceremony, got it. But why do they want _us _for-?"

"They're throwin' some kind of party after." Ironhide grumbled before he could finish. "If ya don't stay, ya don't get to go."

Sideswipe stopped and perked right up. "Oh, well why didn't you say that earlier?"

"If the lot of you don't shut up and let us finish I'm going to cancel the party and toss all your afts out the _airlock_." Aria hissed.

The twins felt their joints lock up in nervous fear. "I think she's serious Sunny." Sideswipe whispered.

Aria finally snapped. _"Of course I'm serious now shut up!"_

There were no more interruptions after that.

...

Sideswipe was hardly disappointed. What followed after Aria and Nat _finally_ were allowed to speak their final I do's was the biggest party the _Ark _would ever see. Bigger than when the femmes returned for the first time. Bigger then when they found the lost bots of Alpha Centauri. Bigger then when they finally went back to Cybertron.

Okay, well maybe not _that_ big, but it definitely had more high grade. They were there to celebrate after all. Not just their organic friends' formal union, but the fact that they had all made it through. They'd survived so many battles; the Battle for Hydrax Plateau, the skirmishes to keep the Kalis-Iacon power conduit going, Tyger Pax and the Last Battle for Cybertron; not to mention making it through that stupid space bridge. They had made it through all that and even though they had so much to do ahead of them, impossible tasks like finding their AllSpark in a galaxy they knew nothing about, they would worry about all that tomorrow. Because _tonight_ was a night to celebrate that they were still alive.

Some mechs celebrated longer than others (and some celebrated so much they had to be half-dragged back to their bunks by their roommates) but Bumblebee wasn't one of them. He left with Cliffjumper when Ratchet started singing (rather terribly) one of the old celebratory ballads he remembered from when the Quintessons had finally been driven back.

"_Man_," Cliffjumper was saying, his words only slurring slightly, "Docbot couldn' carrya note if he had it ina storage bin."

Bumblebee wheezed a laugh, the sound a rush of white noise and static, but he'd had his own fair share of high grade and didn't care as much as he would tomorrow and the next day after that. ::I know. Next time the Decepticons show up, we should just get him to sing. _That_'ll scare 'em off right quick.::

Ceej belted a laugh when he got Bee's pulsewave. It had been a little strange at first, learning to talk with Bumblebee. But he was a smart kid, and just because he couldn't talk didn't mean he couldn't communicate. It was just harder now than it had been before.

The two mechs continued towards their shared quarters, stumbling only occasionally as they went. Ceej would talk and then pause as Bumblebee said something no one else could have heard even if they'd been around. And then he burst out laughing while Bumblebee wheezed amusement through the rough vocorder patch Ratchet had cooked up for him.

They were just passing the second hall of barracks when they caught sight of Aria and Nathanial in one of the main hallways. They were doing that 'kissing' thing again and Ceej and Bumblebee didn't really want to interrupt.

Ceej leaned closer to Bumblebee so the organics wouldn't overhear him. "Is it me," he asked quietly, "or have they been doing that today more than they usually do?"

Bumblebee gave an exaggerated shrug. They always seemed to be doing their little organic affection rituals so he hadn't really noticed a difference.

"Euch," Ceej made a face that was more mockery than disgust when Aria and Nat didn't stop. "Squishy love. Am I right Bee?" He winked and nudged the yellow mech in the side before turning back to the organics and shouting something he'd heard one of the twins tell the organic couple before. "Oh go get a room!"

Aria and Nat _still_ didn't notice them, even with Ceej shouting, but they did break apart. They looked happier than Bumblebee had seen either of them in a long time.

Then in a peculiar gesture Bumblebee had never seen them do before, Nathanial swung Aria up in his arms and actually carried her through the door. He said something neither mech heard as they disappeared and a giggle slipped through the door before it fully closed behind them.

"Huh," Cliffjumper mumbled, "they _actually_ got a room. Didn't expect that." He looked over at Bumblebee as he scratched at one of the red horns on his helm. "What do you suppose that was all about anyway?"

Bumblebee thought, cocking his head slightly at the now closed door. It was awfully quiet in there now, but he had this funny feeling they weren't recharging...

Bumblebee shook his head, clearing it of the slight fog left by the high grade. ::I don't know and I don't think I wanna know.:: He finally sent.

He started walking again as Ceej processed this. "Yeah," the red mech said as he sloppily jogged to catch up with the younger Autobot, "that's probably for the best."

...

Things were inordinately quiet the next morning as most bots slept off the high grade from the night before. But it was ruined quite spectacularly as a furious Aria crashed out of her room, hair wild, eyes furious, and shoulders heaving as she breathed so hard that it was a surprise steam didn't shoot out her nose.

"IT'S _BACK!_" She screamed in what was part fury and part pathetic groan. "Why now? Why the frack _now_?!" She whined.

A sleepyk groan came from the room behind her. "Whut're you talkin'bout?" Nathanial grumbled from the bed.

Aria was outside in the hallway now, pacing furious in front of the door. "The noise!" She told him loudly as she paced back in front of the open door. "That stupid frickin' _noise! _The one that sounds like a turtle in a blender being tortured by tone deaf alien monkeys!"

Nathanial lifted his head out of the pillow and blinked at her. "If it's in a blender isn't the turtle already being tortured?"

Aria appeared in the doorway and then disappeared again as she paced, one hand holding up the sheet she had wrapped around herself before charging out into the hall. Her voice came from around the frame. "That's not the point!" When she passed by again she looked in and sent her new husband a confused look. "Can't you hear it too?"

Nathanial listened for a moment, but all he heard was the rattle-clank of the vent on the opposite wall. He shook his head. "Nuh-uh," he let his head flop back down onto the pillow, "must be a techno-organic thing."

From the growl of frustration she made, Aria obviously wished it wasn't. "Stupid, frickin' alien turtle!" She grumbled loudly.

"I thought it was alien monkeys." Nathanial mumbled without opening his eyes.

"That's not the point either!" Aria shouted from farther down the hall. "The point is that it's awful and I don't know where. It's. _Coming from!_"

"Mmf." Nathanial grunted. Despite the fact he was trying to get back to sleep, a thought still snuck into his head. He lifted his head again and frowned out the door. "You've heard this thing before?"

Aria gave a very unhappy yes as she appeared in the doorway again. "Before you got here." She grumbled. "I haven't heard it since then either. _Obviously_ some lunatic is messing with me." A manic gleam suddenly entered her eyes as she fisted her free hand in front of her chest. "Oh ho when find out who it is they are _not _going to be _happy_."

Nathanial distantly wondered if it would be worth the repercussions if he found a way to warn the lunatic responsible...and then decided it wasn't and let it go.

Aria's head suddenly snapped up and she twisted her head back and forth just outside the door. She went still for a long minute...

Nathanial frowned at her. This was...disconcerting to say the least. "Aria...?"

Aria didn't move from the door, and then abruptly heaved a deep, relieved sigh that made her whole body relax.

"It's gone." She mumbled, closing her eyes and putting a hand to her head as she sighed again. "Thank _goodness_."

Nathanial grunted an agreement. It was too early for any of this. He disentangled a hand from the blanket Aria had left behind when she'd shot out of bed and waved her towards him. "Come back to bed." He mumbled.

Oozing relief, Aria did. She was about to close the door behind her when her head snapped up again and that manic gleam reasserted itself.

_"So close..."_ Nathanial thought.

"Ah ha! AH HA! _There _you are you little-"

Nathanial didn't hear anything more of her crazed ranting as Aria took off down the hall, the tail of her sheet trailing behind her on the floor.

"Well _that_ can't be good." Nat murmured.

...

Ironhide had no warning before Aria came careening down the hall. One minute he'd been letting himself into his assigned office in the quiet as most bots dealt with a 'morning after' complex, and the next he'd come face to face with a semi-crazed Sparkfinder.

He shot her a grin when he saw her come around the far corner. "Hey Aria, didn' expect to see you up this early-" he had started to say.

He stopped as his office door swished open and Aria immediately stalked in before him, looking around with narrowed eyes like a hell-hound on the scent.

Ironhide blinked down at her. "Uh, alright then, come on in..." he muttered. With her strange behavior he thought twice about following her inside the enclosed space.

She started grumbling when she didn't find what she was looking for. "-stupid obnoxious alien rap-" Ironhide managed to make out from the string of what was either nonsense or profanity.

The older mech raised optic ridges at her. And folks thought _he _had an impressive vocabulary.

"Hearing things again?" He asked as he edged around the organic femme and sat behind what passed for a desk.

The look Aria shot him could have melted Megatron down to scrap. "I am _not_ hearing things. It's there!" She frowned. "Or at least it was a minute ago." She grumbled so low that Ironhide had to strain his audios to hear her.

Ironhide swallowed down the chuckle that wanted out as he watched Aria poke her nose into the corners of the room, peering through the miscellaneous stuff that had accumulated over time, for what Ironhide didn't know. He thought she didn't either.

"If ya got sumthin' to say might as well get it out in the open." He finally told her when she started shoving aside datapads to peer under the gun crate he used as a desk.

Aria's head snapped up and she frowned at him for a klik before her brain caught up with her. She closed her eyes and sighed, some of the angry creases on her forehead smoothing themselves out.

"No," she murmured, rubbing at her temple with a hand, "sorry Ironhide. Of course you wouldn't do this," she snorted a laugh and forced herself to give him a smile, "not to _me_ at any rate. Right?"

Ironhide chuckled. "What're ya goin' do to the bot when you find out who it is?" He asked her, leaning elbows on the crate to watch her better.

Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, maybe it was the fact that whoever controlled the noise had put a miserable end to her wedding night, maybe she was just more twisted than anyone gave her credit for.

Either way, Aria grinned real big and told Ironhide in a cheerful, chipper voice, "I'm going to slag them and turn them into spare parts!"

Ironhide blinked down at her. "Erm..." he muttered.

He was saved from having to think of a response by the noise starting up again. At least Ironhide assumed that was what happened when Aria's head snapped up and the mania from before appeared in her eyes again.

"AHA! I hear you now you little-" she started yelling as she scrambled for the open door, feet almost slipping out from under her twice before she made it to the hall. Ironhide stared after her as she shot out of sight, thinking that the show was over. But a moment later a breathless – and partially dressed – Nathanial stopped in front of the still open doorway to catch his breath.

Ironhide stared at the bare-chested human, actually shocked at his appearance.

Nathanial groaned at the mech's blatant staring and quickly continued after the outraged femme. "Aria wait! For heaven's sake you are wearing a bed sheet!" He yelled after her, waving the clothes he had brought with him over his head.

Ironhide went to the door and peered out after the two yelling humans. He shook his head, stunned at their bizarre behavior.

He watched them go from his office door, and then once he was sure they weren't about to come back, he pulled a small remote out of his subspace, letting it drop into his waiting hand.

With a rare, mischievous grin on his faceplates that crinkled the scar around his one optic and made it more noticeable, Ironhide lightly pushed the remote's single button.

Despite the distance, he stillheard Aria scream, "WHERE THE FRACK DOES IT KEEP _GOING?!"_

He couldn't hold it in anymore. Snorted laughter escaped the black armored mech that quickly grew into loud, wheezy, guffaws that shook his entire frame. He had to lean his hands on his knee joints just to stay upright.

"Hoo boy," he muttered when he was finally able to stand upright again, "Aria's gonna laugh so hard when she figures it out."

He was deluding himself. She didn't laugh. It wasn't funny. And he spent four whole days in the medbay when she found out. But that came later.

For now Ironhide just laughed to himself as he watched Aria come running down the opposite arm of the cross section, ranting as she searched or the source of the alien noise. Nathanial appeared a few kliks behind her, still waving her pajamas over his head and trying to get her attention.

Ironhide snickered as he leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb and watched the organics run rampant through the _Ark_.

"And they say Ah've got no sense of humor."


End file.
